Of Snow, Winter Wonder, and Relentless Boys
by Namilaa
Summary: Kairi Hirazora can't seem to catch a break. After randomly hooking up with Sora Hikari at a party, Kairi goes on a ski vacation only to find that her drunken mistake is her new next door neighbor. A joyous winter it will be, indeed.SORAKAIRI.
1. Chapter 1: The Hookup

**So I'm back, i guess. I though it was time to write another story, and hopefully this time i will update more often. This hope is reinforced with the fact that the tone of this story will be more carefree and humerus, and nice break from all my drama shit. And im actually looking forward to this one.** **I'll have fun writing it, i think. So enjoy the prologue. :)**

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[** Of Snow**, _Winter Wonder_, and Relentless Boys ]

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_Prologue_

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"Make-up?

"Check."

"Breath?"

"Check."

"Hotness?"

"Check."

"Then it's time to lock and load."

"Most definitely."

Selphie and Kairi watched as they high-five each other in the mirror's reflection, grinning wildly with somewhat of a reckless twinkle in their eyes. The room around them was messy from preparing for the night: spilled makeup, wrinkled and worn clothes, and scattered magazines galore; a typical girls-night-out scenario. They were made up, dressed up, and ready to indulge in the night. They giggled as quietly as possible as Kairi grabbed her jingling keys and locked the house behind her, careful not to wake up her parents. They tip-toed through the night, under the protection of the palm tree's shadows, shoes in hand as their bare feet scraped along the rough tar. The night had an odd winter chill as they crossed the barren street toward her car. The yellow-tinged street lights revealed their darkened silhouettes as they dashed by until the darkness swallowed them once again. They reached Kairi's SUV, blending in with the night, and closed the doors carefully behind them.

Once in the safe confines of the car, they burst out into full out laughter. Who ever has snuck out before can relate to their fits of giggles. It was liberating and exhilarating. They could feel their hearts pumping and their goosebumps rising, the excitement clearly almost too much to bare. Kairi softly started the engine as they frantically tried to quiet each other's giggles with hushes and shushes. To be quite honest, the two sixteen year olds felt pretty bad ass for sneaking out undetected.

Because they were teenagers, and frankly, that's just what they did.

Once in good distance from the house, Selphie took command of the ipod and soon, loud, techno-like beats filled the car to the point of deafness. They were both bouncing in their seats, screaming the lyrics to the song out of key and tune. Kairi turned down the volume once the song ended.

"I'm so pumped, Selph."

"Oh my god I know! I'm just worried that Larxene will show up." Selphie said.

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. She always ruins the fun parties with her stupid drama. Plus, she hooked up with Tidus last weekend and I think I'll die if she does it again." she said dramatically, the music still playing in the background.

Kairi squinted her eyes in the night and licked her lips, "Nah, don't worry. If she pulls something I'll give her a smack down." They both erupted into laughter due to the fact that Kairi, as tiny as she was, would undoubtedly be able to take a girl like Larxene down.

"Yeah…"

There was a silence for a few moments in which the music continued to play, switching to a rap song that Kairi began to mouth the words to.

"This song is foul, Kairi, how in the world do you know the lyrics?"

"I enjoy various genres of music."

"Yeah, clearly." Selphie said, browsing Kairi's ipod for another song.

"Contrast, you know?"

"Ok, so would you consider show-tunes contrast, too?" Selphie asked, giving the ipod an odd, wrinkly nosed look, the screen illuminating her face in the dark.

"Again. Variety."

"I've never met someone with such odd taste in music. Thank god you have some of my stuff in here. Or else you'd be an embarrassment to society."

"Such a shame I don't fit into the mold."

"Yeah, you really had hope."

"I guess its shattered now."

"Totally. I'll just show everyone in the party your weird music. I mean, who is Bob Dylan?"

Kairi raised her eyebrows in astonishment. "How can you not know who Bob Dylan is? Especially after hanging out with me. You know that poster I have in my room? With that guy playing the guitar?" Selphie nodded hesitantly, "That's Bob Dylan. He was the iconized protester for the Vietnam War, and basically reinvented himself every decade. Changed lives, changed the world; you know, no big deal. He's a _genius_. And much more valuable than any of today's crap." Kairi explained with the passion in which she was known. She was about to continue until Selphie interrupted her.

"Kairi. We're not in school anymore, it's the first night of winter break. I don't want a history lesson. This is bo-oring."

"Hopeless."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Call me superficial, but all I care about right now is if there will be hot guys tonight. Because if not, tonight will just turn out to be anticlimactic."

"Stop using complicated words Selphie, we're not in school anymore, remember?"

"Oh shut up." Selphie pouted.

Kairi laughed, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, jeez. And anyway, I thought you just wanted to get with Tidus?"

"Yeah, ok Kairi, but if in the case Larxene screws me over, I will have options."

"Well I actually heard Riku was bringing a few friends from another school."

"Now that's variety." Selphie said approvingly.

"I'd say."

They continued to talk as the night passed them by outside. The stars were barely visible beyond the masking trees and clouds, casting a shadows and patches of moonlit light across the road. Kairi hoped with all her heart that tonight was going to be a good night. She had been long awaiting her nearly one month long winter break. And anyway, tonight was her last night in town; tomorrow she was off to her family's annual ski trip up North in which she was going to stay until nearly the end of break. And frankly, she was really excited. All she needed was a good night to start the mood…fun, easy going, party-hardy, straight up ridiculous in the sense that--

"OH MY GOD KAIRI!"

Upon Selphie's scream, Kairi refocused her attention on the road, still in day dream mode. At least until she saw the bright white lights shining directly in front of her. In a brake-neck reaction, Kairi turned the wheel, jerking them violently to the right as Selphie's screams filled the car. The lights disappeared behind her left window with a long, loud beep that shattered the silence of the dark. And with a mighty jolt, they were motionless.

They were both breathing heavily; eyes wide and blank. It was silent for a few moments until Selphie regained her ability to speak. Or rather, shriek.

"Holy SHIT Kairi, we almost DIED!" she cried, turning to look at Kairi with large eyes.

Kairi swallowed, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. That was a close one."

Selphie collapsed dramatically into her seat and let out a long breath, "Ok so lets play some music, drive safely, and get to the party alive so we can meet boys, ok?"

Kairi swallowed again and licked her lips, "Sounds like a plan."

It took a few minutes for the humor of the stated situation to sink in, and soon, they were laughing, noting that tomorrow this will be one of the things they will be recapping on when they have a loss of memory of the events of the night. Selphie turned the music back up loud, and soon they were singing and dancing as if nothing happened.

They arrived at the party and turned off the engine.

"You ready to party hardy?" Kairi asked, turning to her friend, a wild grin playing at her lips.

"Only if you are."

"Then lets do it."

They both hopped out of the car and adjusted their outfits. Kairi was wearing a simple black spaghetti strap top with sequins along the straps, an extremely tight dark jeans with a bright red belt, and a sick pair of red heels. Selphie went for the short dress approach. But both worked, because they looked hot. They walked down the road toward the house, tiny butterflies fluttering in their stomachs as they listened to the muffled music in the dark. Call it a gut feeling, but Kairi had an anticipating notion in her stomach that she couldn't shake. With that, she looked up at the blooming stars and smiled. Tonight was going to be a good night. She could feel it.

With their heels clacking on the pavement below, Selphie and Kairi walked until they reached the door and entered into the teenage wasteland. Almost literally.

The deafening music embraced them as they entered, people bursting at the seams, all pushed up against each other. There were people everywhere. The temperature had heightened dramatically, and Selphie and Kairi found that they had to jostle their way forward to gain any ground. They squeezed their way toward the bar where they spotted some of their friends and a few other strangers that she did not recognize. And before they knew it, they had taken three shots of rich Puerto Rican rum each, and the night was suddenly a low hum of liquid excellence. The room no longer felt hot or crowded, nor did the bitter taste of the drinks sting their throats any longer.

Kairi got separated from Selphie, but she brushed it off giddily. She found herself on a couch between Riku and some other good looking boy, surrounded by her laughing friends with a cold new drink in her hand. The room was spinning slowly with every turn of the head and she had the feeling of being light and weightless. As if she were high above, safe, her chest warm and smooth.

She and her friends burst into laughter as Seifer suddenly vomited into his water bottle, resulting in small specs of it splattering on the floor. Seifer laughed along too, stumbling to the ground near the couch to where he curled in a ball and laughed.

"Seiferrr, why'd you do thattt?" Kairi's friend Xion asked, leaning over him from where she was sitting.

"Ahahaa…well when…you gotta' vom', you gotta' vom'." Seifer replied from the floor. Xion exploded into another fit of laughter and promptly fell on top of him, cuddling to his chest. A streak of vomit caught her arm and she squealed.

"Just wipe it somewhere." Seifer drawled. She nodded lethargically and proceeded to wipe it on his shirt. But he didn't really notice because he was too busy grabbing her face and sticking his tongue down her throat.

The rest of them continued to laugh at the sudden change of events. Especially since Xion and Seifer usually didn't like each other sober. Well, that's the result of alcohol.

"Oh my god Kairi look, look, look! Ahaha, they're rolling in his vomit! Ahaha!" Selphie slurred, suddenly appearing in front of her as she tugged on Kairi's shirt.

"Fucking idiots." Riku laughed, taking a sip of his beer, his arm around Kairi and some other girl as they sat on the couch. Riku and Kairi had been friends for a long time, and when your drunk, lines get blurred. Thus Kairi nuzzled her head into his chest as Riku laughed with her. To the group's enjoyment, Kairi meowed inexplicably, resulting in more roaring laughter. Riku laughed just as hard and started leaving big wet kisses all over her face. She squealed and squirmed.

"Eww, Riku! Grossss." she laughed, slightly pushing him away.

"But you like it." he laughed.

"Now way." she paused, "And Riku? How ruuude! You…you never introduced me to your friendsss!" she said patting his chest and staring at him with mock, drunk anger.

"Okay, okay. Kairi this is Dilan, Braig, and Seifer." she said pointing to each person who were either not paying attention, asleep, or flirting with some stumbling girl. "And the douche sitting next to you is Sora. Sora, this girl's name is Kairi." Kairi looked to her side at the boy who also had his arm around her. But he was staring off somewhere, eyes completely glazed over.

"Sora, man! Sora!" he still didn't look Riku's way, and Kairi inexplicably giggled.

"SORA!"

At this the boy turned his way, looked at Kairi for a few seconds, and then at Riku. "What?"

"Bro, this is Kairi. She's fucking awesome. And also fucking hot." Kairi burst out laughing again and hit Riku on the chest, "Shut uppp, Riku!"

She turned to look at the boy again. He was looking at her smiling, his eyes focused and serious, "Hey I'm Sora."

"That's lovely, I'm Kairi." She giggled. Kairi liked to giggle when she was drunk. A lot.

Kairi felt Riku get up and go somewhere, leaving Sora to be the only one with his arm around her. "Where are you from?" She asked, smiling up him, eyelashes instinctively batting. She took a long, drunk moment to look at his face. And she liked what she saw. He was tan, very tan, even though it was pretty dark in the room. She couldn't really see his eyes, but they were big and beautiful. His hair was lovely and wild and smooth. She new this because she was touching it.

"I love your hair." She said before he could answer. "It's nice and soft." She continued, patting his head with her hand and then laughed, letting her head roll onto his chest with her arm around his front. She could feel his hot breath in her ear and she felt her stomach do a smothering flip. She wasn't really sure if there were people around, but suddenly she felt his lips on her ear, sucking, kissing, the music still blasting around them.

"That tickles…" she giggled. She just heard him make a low sound of agreement as his slow kisses lowered, now trailing down her jaw line. Each one left a tiny burn once his moist lips met her tender skin. It was absolutely riveting. She could feel her palms sweat and her toes curl unconsciously. She was slowly finding it hard to breathe, but really, she liked it that way.

Before she knew it his lips were on hers. They were clumsy and hot and delicious. She continued to have a hard time breathing when his hungry lips were searching hers, his cautious tongue sneaking its way to meet with hers…

Her body was on fire; her blood steaming within her veins.

She felt herself being lifted up as if she were a small toddler, her legs wrapped around his hips as he balanced her with his arms. She squealed against his mouth, and he laughed as she pulled away, stroking her auburn hair with the hand closest to her head. He looked at her strangely then, and for a second, she held her breath for what seemed like a long time. His eyes were sturdy and soft and she didn't know why she was getting goosebumps, but she was. She didn't know if she could explain it, or even give reasons to why she was having this effect. She watched as he exhaled deeply and then smile a soft, brilliant smile. Her stomach tightened.

Wow. How did he do that?

She also couldn't help but give credit to his strength, because she may have been skinny, but carrying her while drunk was a whole nother story. She snuggled into his chest and then took a peek over his shoulder at the party. No one was looking their way, really. Too drunk and out to really care. But she spotted Selphie laughing in the arms of Tidus, looking straight at her. She winked, and Kairi laughed. An inexplicable feeling of self-worth welled up in her chest. It was a quizzical feeling that is difficult to explain, perhaps comparable to pride or happiness. This was of course related to Sora being her newest conquest; the unknown handsome boy who several girls had had their eye on, was now hers. She smiled to herself. It felt good to be wanted sometimes, like she was of value; worthy to be swept off her feet by a mysterious boy. The music began to slowly fade in volume as they entered what she recognized as a hallway.

She didn't really remember how she got onto the bed with Sora, but soon they were making out again, his hands under her shirt along her back, trailing each vertebra one by one, by one…His kisses were so sweet; they tasted like alcohol, smoke, and cinnamon. She closed her eyes to his unbelievably gentle touch. And she felt lucky. Because how often do you hook up with an extremely good looking guy this wasted? Not often, is the answer. And she was ready to enjoy it.

From the bed that she and Sora lay upon, their bodied intertwined with only the fabric of their clothes between them, the music continued to play…softly…perennial…lifting her higher and higher until she couldn't bare to look down.

-

A bright light shined against Kairi's heavy eyelids.

She blinked, slowly, painfully. She emit a tiny groan and licked her swollen lips. Once, twice, three times she blinked until her eyes were able to open to slits at the bright light. Blinking hard one more time, Kairi opened her eyes to the blinding light. It was her window with the open curtains that was the culprit, mocking her with the blue sky and green palm trees that lay outside. After a few minutes of laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, Kairi found the energy to push her heavy covers off of her, get up, and walk dizzily and lethargically toward the mirror.

What she saw in the mirror was not the prettiest sight, really. Her makeup was warn away and slightly smudged, her hair flat and a little tangled, her face pale and tired, and her lips were swollen and red -- Oh! Recognition leaked into her numb and pounding head.

Sora.

She found herself smiling in her reflection. His face bubbled into her mind, hazy and soft, but there nonetheless. God, he was good looking. Selphie probably approved.

Wait. Selphie. Did she get home?

Kairi tried to think, and watched as her eyebrows wrinkled in contemplation. She vaguely remembered sitting in the passenger's seat in her car, with who she thought was Selphie in the back. But who was driving? She tried to think. It might have been Riku saving her ass again.

Oh yeah. Kairi tuned around and there was Selphie, sleeping in her bed, a stain of drool near the corner of her mouth. Selphie was supposed to sleep over. Well that was good. They both got home safely. She'd have to remember to thank Riku later. She sighed in contentment again, the vision of Sora still in her mind, his hands, his lips. Too bad she wouldn't see him again anytime too soon.

Or wait, what was she thinking? That would be horrible. And awkward.

She remembered she hooked up with Wakka one time and had to deal with seeing him everyday in school after that. Oh, that and all the snickers of The Red-Head Fest. That took a while to fade. So no. She didn't want to see him anytime soon.

That was the trouble with hookups. You couldn't really get anything out of it after it happens. Maybe you could hook up with that person again, but nothing _happens_. Like, she was _still _awkward around Wakka. And that would really suck. But Kairi didn't need a boy in her life. Not now. So really, she was thankful that she wouldn't see him again.

Man, she changed her mind often.

Upon seeing the digital clock flash when she turned her head, Kairi forgot all that she was thinking. Sudden stomach flips of excitement trapezed in her stomach: today was the day she was going to her winter house for the break. She smiled largely. She was so happy, she could have danced a jig if her head didn't hurt so much.

Suddenly, Kairi could hear her mom's distant footsteps approaching her door. She quickly rushed into her bathroom as silently as possible before her mother could take a whiff of her alcohol and sweaty stench. That would be disastrous.

First things first, she thought as she took off last night's clothes. Take a shower, take an aspirin, wake up Selphie, and then she could be on her way to winter paradise, skiing her way down the mountains of merriment and happiness. Freedom at last. Nothing could beat that feeling. Okay, so she was being a little idealistic. It didn't really matter though. She would soon be in her happy place.

But for now, she really needed that aspirin.

-

**review if you want a speedy second chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival & Unexpected Reunions

**I am. so. tired. right now. This chapter took forever to finish. I literally finished half of it two weeks ago, and ive been writing and revising since. So i really hope there is minimal mistakes. Other than that, this was pretty fun to write. Note that this story will be much lighter in mood than my past story. Although no less entertaining or decrease in quality. God. I forgot how much revising sucks balls. This was literally 17 pages on my Word. SO LONG MAN. I just had so much to fit in here...i hope i never have to write such a long one again ahahaha. Ok. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. If you notice some characters were switched around from last chapter its because they were. Too tired to explain. Gah. Hope you enjoy :)**

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[** Of Snow**, _Winter Wonder_, and Relentless Boys ]

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_Chapter Two_

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Kairi was beyond excited.

For every Christmas she could remember, Kairi has gone to her winter house up in the mountains.

Unfortunately, it is a long trip. And many hours were spend just _getting_ there. Which is understandable considering they had to go from tropic to frigid in a day. From their house they had to drive about an hour toward the main Destiny Island ports. From there they took one of those car ferries where you can put your car in the boat. This proceeded for about two hours until they reached the mainland. And then from there they had to drive about seven and a half hours to reach the family house at Yukiyama Mountain.

There was a formal resort and hotel on the mountain, with fabulous facilities and a shopping town center as well, and when she was really young, that is where they stayed. But after a couple of years, her family realized that they were going to come back repeatedly, so they bought a house along the side one of the high slopes. It ended up being one of the best investments they'd made. It was perfectly placed; an easy exit to the slopes that was conveniently near a lift, and road access with a drive-way and everything, so travel wasn't a problem.

The little town center was probably the most popular spot in the area. There were of course overpriced winter-wear shops and cheesy tourist stands lining the wide sidewalk, but there were some really great cafes, restaurants, and general, chill lounge spots for her age group that were quite popular. The town center also had a useful tab system for the residents or long staying hotel visitors. Meaning, that wherever you went and whatever you spent, you could add it to your universal tab, and then pay it weekly so that there was no need for carrying around money. Which was profoundly useful for a forgetful seventeen-year old girl like Kairi.

Near the mountain was the famous Town of Mokuzai. It was basically a very pish-posh, polished town where the richest of the rich lived. It had absolutely amazing restaurants and high-end stores. It was a popular vacation spot for numerous celebrities, and Kairi had had the blessed opportunity to see two celebrities during her many years: Oliver Bloomy, the famous heartthrob from that one pirate movie, and Dita Bambi, the world's first playboy bunny (needless to say she wasn't much of a looker any more).

So really, Mokuzai could be really ridiculous sometimes. So Kairi, her family, and her friends usually stuck within the confines of Yukiyama and its more humble and refreshing atmosphere. Nevertheless, Mokuzai was fun to go to every once in a while to do some splurging, but generally, Kairi wasn't tempted. Especially when every item was at least $100 plus, and fur coat stores with hanging dead mink just chillin were at every corner. But for all it was worth, Kairi was excited. And nothing would ruin this winter. Absolutely _nothing_.

Kairi sighed as she sat in the backseat of the car, a smile of contentment playing at her lips. She looked out the window as her parents traditionally fought over the same directions as diplomatically as possible, just like every other year. It was snowing a brilliant snow at the moment. The trees looked sugar-coated and crafted as if by hand; fit to look as if it were in Hollywood, a fairytale, or anything of that manner. The un-shielded sun made the snow sparkle and dazzle even at the speed her father was driving.

They were winding around the mountains now, meaning that they were gaining mayor altitude. Every year Kairi took about a week to adjust to the climate, altitude, and air pressure. It was a lot to take in at once if you really thought about it.

There is something called altitude sickness in which you have headaches and general feeling of fatigue. Not going to lie, it really sucks; even for a ski veteran like Kairi. It feels as if you have a mild fever, when really, there's nothing wrong with you. It is hard to shake, too. And then there is the bitter cold; quite a change from the toasty weather of Destiny Islands. And probably worst of all is the air pressure. Because there was a substantial drop in oxygen, it is incredibly hard to breath with any sort of physical activity. During the first few days, walking up the steps will result in shortness of breath, no matter how good of shape you think you're in. It's horrible. But you get used to it.

Kairi smiled again as they rounded yet another turn, showcasing the splendid scenery of the snow-crested mountains and the frozen river below. The sky was a rich blue with few clouds in the sky to cover the low sun.

Nothing could ruin this trip. Absolutely nothing. Not even her annoying little brother Axel or his stupid geeky friend Ventus, who by chance, were squished right next to her.

Of course, being the adorable favorite child, Axel got to bring a friend to the annual winter trip. Lovely right? Axel had originally asked a bunch of his little seventh grade friends, but all their parents said no. Which was understandable. Like, who would want to spend a little less than a month with _this_ family? Oh wait, Ven would, because technically, he _was_ family.

Ven was one of our cousins that for some unimaginable reason, Axel was absolutely in infatuated with. How that was possible is unfathomable. Maybe it was because of his genius IQ and whatnot, and how he could built rocket ships or any of that other science crap that fueled Axel's growing pyromania condition. But I mean, whichever.

And also, Ven was like, two years older than him. Making him in the ninth grade and an extremely annoying freshman. Kairi found him extremely irritating, especially with his stupid little crush he had on her. Being an eleventh grader and all, having a stupid freshman drool and follow you around like a puppy really hurt the rep. Especially when you have to own up to the fact that he is your cousin.

And that was exactly what he was doing right now; drooling. Ven was sitting in the middle seat between her brother and herself, and was conspicuously staring at her. Which was really awkward. All Kairi really wanted to do was punch him in his little pimply face and break those stupid, thick-rimmed glasses that he always wore.

Dear lord. It would have to be a true battle to make this winter a good one. The odds were against her right now. But Kairi was determined to make this the best winter ever! Not even geeky little second cousins and stupid brothers could ruin it.

Just as she was thinking this, Axel had sneezed into his hand, and was now waving his bacteria around for everyone to see. And one queue, Ven blessed him with a "Gesundheit!", which irked Kairi greatly.

"Axel, keep you nasty hands to yourself." Kairi shot, leaning forward around Ven so she could glare at her brother. Ven was looking a little uncomfortable.

"You want a taste?" Axel asked, smiling his little stupid seventh grade smile, showing her his gooey palms. Kairi snorted and returned to her place; arms folding and steady, muttering something about idiotic seventh graders ruining her winter.

"We're almost there, so stop fighting, young ones. And Kairi? Be a little more mature when it comes to your brother, ok? Rolling your eyes wont do anything. It unhealthy." her mother said, turning around so she could scold her with eye contact.

"Yeah Kairi, be more mature." Her brother echoed, snickering.

As per usual, her parents always sided with the little green-eyed back stabber, "Are you for serious right now? That _thing_ is waving his amebas everywhere and you calling _me_ immature?"

"Don't refer to your brother as an inanimate object, Kairi. It's rude." Her dad tried to ad, squinting at the road as he turned the wheel to wrap the car around another bend. Kairi could tell he felt satisfied with his input for the day. Probably because now he knew for sure her mother wasn't going to yell at him later for not reinforcing the parent side of the argument.

"Rude?! Axel's mocking me now! Now, _that's_ rude!" Kairi retorted, getting more passionate by the minute, her finger pointing at her stupid little brother.

"Kairi, you know what they say about pointing fingers: there are always three pointed back at you, and another pointing at God." he took a breath and closed his eyes as if he were deeply saddened, "Kairi, how does it feel to have God see through your lies?" Axel said, shaking his head wisely, waiting for his parent's approval. In which they complied with a disgustingly fast speed.

"Good reasoning, son." their father complimented. Wow, he was going to get bonus points tonight. Kairi felt a simultaneous need to both rip her hair out of their follicles, and vomit shamelessly.

"Why don't you go squeeze some more gel into your hair, squirt?" Kairi remarked snidely, turning her head to look at him again. Ventus was breaking out in a cold sweat from all this confrontation by now. He wasn't used to all this banter and fighting, especially when he was in the middle of it. Literally. Axel stuck out his tongue and made a very disrespectful hand gesture.

"Okay, okay, done. Just everyone breathe for a second, we're almost home." Kairi's mom said, making breathing hand motions as she spoke. Kairi's mother was a yoga instructor at this one wellness clinic back home. And she was really into it. Like, _really_ into it. She wore all this natural and organic clothing from random bohemian stores and was always the one to whip out the essence that reeked like soaked herbs. She refused to buy any manufactured food, making Kairi's snackage very difficult back home. Their house was always full of whole grain crackers, tofu bars, and fresh spinach from the garden out back. Oh yes, they had a garden out back.

To put it plainly, her mother was a flower-child clinging vicariously to her 1970s hippie roots.

Her dad was more normal in a sense. Football, beer, cookouts every week, distracted most of the time. That sort of thing. Kairi got more of his normal genes, yet received her mother's taste in music; Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary. Her mother was so thrilled at her music choice, she nearly cried. Axel on the other hand, was a sick twist of both. Like, what normal human being was a developing pyro yet still had lots of little seventh grade cult friends? Axel, apparently.

So basically, her family was fucked up. And clearly Kairi was the only sane one.

She sighed again and looked back outside. Soon…very soon…

"Oh Kairi, by the way, we signed you up for this program for the next two weeks." Kairi's mother said, making a hemp bracelet against the dashboard ( really, who does that anymore? ). She had heard these words before; many years ago. But she still knew their significance. Needless to say, Kairi was skeptical.

She decided to approach this carefully, "What kind of program?"

Her mother continued in a nonchalant voice, half focused on her hemp bracelet that was half finished, "Well, basically you're with a group of skiers of your age group and skill level, and go ski together every morning until the afternoon." Kairi's mind was going into overdrive. Shit. Shit. Shit. She knew _exactly_ what this meant.

"Wait," Kairi started, narrowing her eyes only slightly, "How early are we talking? And for how long?"

"Oh, at like 7:30 for about two weeks."

Okay. Hair was getting ripped out _now_.

But Kairi didn't have a chance to express her frustrations, because she partially fainted. Cool, right?

-

So after the fainting incident, which really only lasted a few moments in reality, things got a little better. Although Ventus jumping on top of her claiming he knew CPR was not the brightest part of her day, it miraculously revived her before he could place a scaly little finger anywhere near her chest. But lets rewind and give Kairi a chance to justify her inexplicable actions:

Clearly she was taken by surprise. She was planning on hanging out with Yuffie and Rikku all break just like every other winter. That means waking up when she wanted, doing whatever she wanted, and skiing whenever she wanted, and stay as far away form her family as possible. Was it too much for a girl to ask? Yuffie and Rikku were her two best friends in Yukiyama, and considering she only saw them a month every year due to the great distances between each other, this whole situation was unreasonable. The three of them actually first became friends in ski school five years beforehand when they were in sixth grade. The three of them were the best skiers in the group, and greatly enjoyed passing, knocking, and racing both each other and the flustered instructor. Rebellious, right? Well it wasn't like they _asked_ to be in ski school, so why should they conform?

Another justification: what gives her mother the right to sign her up for something behind her back? Especially when she hadn't been part of the establishment since that fateful winter? ( Minus a three-day program in eighth grade that was forced upon her, and didn't end up being so bad for reasons discussed later. ) She was practically an adult! She could take care of herself! And the last thing she needed was more rules and laws to tie her down.

And this is why when Kairi found out that both Yuffie and Rikku's mothers signed them up for the same program, much thanks to Kairi's mother's fearfully manipulative organization skills, she immediately texted them to meet up.

They decided to meet at Coffee Mania -- please excuse the cheesy tourist title, the founders of Yukiyama were clearly flawed --which was a popular spot to warm up. So after unpacking with a velocity that rivaled Selphie's speed dates, Kairi skied down, with the lovely new skies her parents gave her as an early Christmas present, toward the town center. It was already dark then, meaning she would have to be home in a few hours. Kairi was all keyed up from the anticipation to see her friends. This is what she had been looking forward to all year. God, she missed these girls. Like, Selphie is great and everything. But she had less difficulty keeping her legs closed than being a faithful friend, so Kairi really considered these girls the best of the best.

She awkwardly trotted along the town center in her bulky ski boots and soaked in the brilliance of the town center that she missed so much. The stone floor was covered with tightly-packed snow and beautiful trees and evergreens that were lit up by a variety of white Christmas lights. Teens and families mingled and strolled along. Shops lined the route that resembled a modest street more than a conventional sidewalk. Of course they all had tacky names like Bart's Bookshop -- which was actually decently stocked, considering-- and a cabin-esque atmosphere. But Kairi didn't really mind. It was all part of the charm.

But what Kairi loved most was that distinct smell. It was an extremely fresh, cold scent that almost smelled minty, mixed with an inexplicable smell of evergreen, wood, and clay. It was positively invigorating.

Finally she made it to the Coffee Mania, and Kairi could simply not stop smiling. She was about to see her best friends. She was about to see the people she loved more than life itself. And suddenly, all this tragic nonsense seemed fleeting and irreverent. Because nothing could ruin this.

Of course before she could reach out to open the front door, she heard two loud shrieks that probably caused unnecessary attention. It was hard not to recognize them. Practically shaking with excitement, Kairi turned around to see her two best friends hugging each other and jumping simultaneous. Well, they weren't exactly a quiet bunch.

They had not noticed her presence yet, so Kairi took the initiative to tackle them. More shrieks followed, and after a blur of happiness, smiles, and questions, the three of them found themselves in Coffee Mania, sitting in their favorite booth near the back, where the air was thick and toasty warm, and the two chefs in the back were accessible to conversation. (You see the name Coffee Mania is misleading. They do not only sell coffee, but a variety of lovely goodies and the best sandwiches known to man).

"Shit man, I cant believe we're all here." Yuffie said thoughtfully, taking a sip of her hot cocoa. They were all huddled together in their little booth, warm mugs in hand, the kitchen door swinging open and closed with constant swooshes. Kairi smiled at this.

"I know. I've been waiting all year for this…" she said, smiling to herself as she stared at her mug. God, she felt so happy right then. She wanted to keep this image to herself forever, just the three of them huddled together like they were back in the sixth grade. She wanted to remember it until the day she died. So she promised herself she would. Because this was going to be the best winter break yet.

"So what is it with this bullshit program that our parents signed us all up for?" Rikku mentioned, frowning deeply, stirring her hot chocolate with her finger. Kairi sighed.

"I know. I already had my freak out about it." Kairi frowned at the unpleasant memory, "So I guess we just have to deal with it." Rikku frowned at this. She was never one to conform.

"C'mon Kairi! We cant stand for this! I say, time for a revolution!" she exclaimed, her finger pointed toward the ceiling to punctuate her point, her infamously pursed, concentrated expression evident on her face.

"Agreed. I _really_ don't want to be waking up at 7:00 for the next two weeks. I apologize, but no way!" Yuffie said bitterly, smashing her fist on the table for emphasis. Kairi sighed.

"That's great and everything, and you know I would do the same, but the bottom line is our parents already paid for it. As much as I hate to admit." Yuffie and Rikku frowned simultaneously.

"Man I wish I were eighteen already. Because, then, legally, I could do whatever I want." Rikku declared, finishing the last of her cocoa, her wild blond hair swaying with every shake of her head.

"Yeah that'd be great and everything except for the fact that you _just_ turned seventeen and you have a whole, agonizing year of being a minor left." Yuffie teased, knowing that she was the oldest out of all of them, and would be eighteen this summer. Kairi was in the middle, making Rikku the youngest, much to her displeasure. In her mind, she was already twenty and fully independent. If only they all were.

"Well on the bright side, when we come back next year, we'll all be eighteen together." Kairi mused, proud that she had found the only positive thing out this mess. The reaction was immediate. Both Rikku and Yuffie, who were on the opposite side of the booth than Kairi, wrinkled their nose and looked in another direction. Rikku bit her lip. This was not good. This was _not_ good.

After a few moments of thick silence, "What." it was more of a statement than a question.

Yuffie took the initiative, realizing that Rikku was looking down at her lap, and was not going to say a word, "Rikku and I aren't sure if we're coming back next year."

Suddenly, a heavy weight thrust itself into Kairi's abdominal. Her mouth got dry, and it took her a moment to realize she needed to breathe. This could not be happening. This could not be happening. They had planned this next winter as the best they would ever have; even better than this one. Because it was to be their last. They were to be adults, legal to do whatever, finally receiving the independence they had so fervently fought for since adolescence. It was supposed to be the last hoorah before college, where the future was not set and absolutely unpredictable. Rikku wanted to go to school out in California where she could surf and study archeology. Yuffie wanted to go somewhere way up north in Canada for school, and research marine biology and help the arctic animals. Kairi wasn't sure what she wanted to do really, but it wasn't near either of them, as if she could even choose between them. Her eyes stung. Didn't they know what this meant for them. Didn't they know what this meant for _her_?

They both saw her face and immediately regretted telling her. They were planning on mentioning it to her later, when part of the break had already gone by and Kairi was in a better mood. Rikku spoke first, "We're so sorry Kairi. Our parents, well, they don't really want to come back next year. " she took a breath, "We're both the youngest in our families, and our parents are over the whole family vacation thing when its only with one of their kids. And this damn recession, you know? It's just a big combination of things that we can't control. Trust me, Yuffie and I have fought and fought for this shit, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen." Kairi took in a breath. Rikku didn't live in a nice, big house like Yuffie and she did. She rented a room in one of the hotels in the town center with her parents every year. They couldn't really afford a house like Yuffie's and mine. Not that she was poor or anything like that; just not as well off.

"I'm sorry, Kairi." Yuffie said, visibly swallowing as she played with her hands.

"So I guess all our talks as kids will lead to nothing?" Kairi asked, not able to take her eyes off her empty mug.

"That's not true though. We still have three and a half weeks in front of us, Kairi. And things could change, you never know." Rikku offered.

"Yeah! Stop being so down! We still have this great break in front of us. And I heard we're going to get a foot of snow tonight. Which equals ridiculous skiing tomorrow morning." Yuffie continued, clearly getting excited now, her hands in fists of excitement. As sad as Kairi felt, she couldn't help but smile; Yuffie was just too easy to make happy.

"Yeah, I guess."

"That's the spirit!" Yuffie said.

"And anyway, this gives us a chance to take down this whole establishment down from the inside." Rikku offered, her eye brow raised in the way Kairi was so accustomed to; her planning face. Kairi smiled widened.

"We're not Charlie's Angel's for nothing, right?" Yuffie said, clearly excited by this whole prospect. Kairi wrinkled her eyebrow.

"We've never said that before."

"Yeah, well, it makes sense, right? So from now on we're Yukiyama's Angels! Secret Agents for the will of the people!"

"Yeah ok, Yuffie. We'll go with that." Rikku teased.

"Okay, okay…its getting late guys. We should go." Kairi offered, glancing at her phone for the time. Adding it to their tab, the three girls left Coffee Mania and went their separate ways; Rikku toward her hotel, and Yuffie and Kairi toward their neighboring houses up the slope. They took the late-night ski lift up and then skied to their houses', said their goodbyes, and went inside their respective homes. Kairi closed the heavy wood door behind her, an odd mix of excitement and sadness molding together within her brain. But then, Kairi thought, this would just mean this winter break _had _to be the best yet. Because there could very well not be another one. Kairi knew she had thought this before, but now she was even more determined.

So determined and confident, in fact, that she whipped out her cell phone and did something she had been secretly contemplating to do all day; text Sora, the boy who she hooked up with only the night before. He hadn't texted today yet, putting her on edge, so she decided to do the Kairi thing to do: take initiative. She looked up Sora's name, misspelled from the drunken weariness of the night, and opened up the blank note. Satisfied with what she typed, Kairi sent it before she reconsider. She stowed her phone in her pocket and headed up stairs to her individual room. She changed into her warm winter pajamas, and slipped into her hand-made quilted bed that her mother made. She would never admit it, but she secretly loved this quilt. It was full of a bunch of difference patterns and images atop a big, fluffy comforter. It was her absolute favorite. Each stitch, each patch, she treasured. Each of them inexplicable gave her a memory of her years here. Well, not exactly a memory, because a memory was too precise a term. More like an emotion, a feeling she could compare each image to some point that had passed. And to her, it was more powerful that any other quilt in the world.

Sighing, Kairi checked her phone for the sixteenth time, anxious to receive a text back. God, why was she so worked up?, she thought as she nestled deeper into the confines of her life and memories that was her bed. She felt unnecessarily frustrated. And this would simply not do.

_This is stupid._

With these thoughts she finally drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

-

The morning sun peeked through her curtains, and on queue, the alarm clock went off. Kairi woke up with a start, feeling like that sleep was ten minutes instead of ten hours. Much unlike herself, she went to bed quite early the past night. But hopefully it would give her whatever enthusiasm, or better yet, hateful energy, she needed to endure through the morning. Sighing, Kairi slowly slid out of bed and stumbled toward her hastily unpacked drawer to withdraw her heavy winter gear. She then dragged herself to breakfast, in which her stupid brother was already awake with Ventus sitting beside him on the breakfast high-chairs, staring at her. Ignoring her unwanted admirer, Kairi sat down and waited for her mom to serve her food.

"Now Kairi, I don't want any drama with this program." she said, eyeing Kairi with her special mom eye before she handed her the cereal, "I mean it."

"Okay, okay, okay, mother. Don't have a cow."

Slightly glaring, she handed her the bowl and turned to finish the dishes. For a hippie, her mother was pretty thorough when it came to mothering. Axel of course was jabbering away about some stupid seventh grade stuff, evoking a deep frown on Kairi's face.

"You know Kairi, if you keep frowning like that, you're face will stick." Axel chastised. Turning her head very slowly and deliberately, Kairi unleashed the full wrath of her devilish eyes on the boy, resulted in a slight twitch.

"You should know, at age two you got stuck to the ugly expression that is now your face."

"Mom, Kairi's threatening me indirectly with her eyes again."

"_Kairi_."

Right on queue, the doorbell rang, signaling Yuffie's ludicrous internal clock that believed waking up early was somehow beneficial. She should be BFF's with her mom. Feeling a little more cheerful, Kairi skipped to the door and let Yuffie in. Kairi quickly ran upstairs to grab her coat, gloves, phone, helmet, and goggles, and dashed out the door with Yuffie. It was five minutes until 7:30. They were running a little behind, thanks to Kairi of course, so they mounted their skis and skied down to the school area. She could already see a pattern forming.

The day was absolutely spectacular. It was a clear blue sky, all the trees were topped with fresh blankets of snow, and for the first time since she'd gotten here, Kairi could see the surrounding mountains in all their glory. To put it lightly, the scenery was fabulous. Each crevasse and valley of each mountain was distinct and beautiful and dotted with snow. Kairi sighed with content. Maybe today wouldn't be too bad.

Just then she heard Axel's cackling laughter behind her, eager to pass her. Smirking to herself, Kairi slowed down, much to the confusion of Axel, and once he had come close, grabbed his helmet and threw him face-down in the snow. Laughing hysterically, Kairi skied away with Axel yelling and cursing seventh grade curses behind her.

Yuffie and Kairi made it to the school center, which was just a little clearing that had a bunch of flags signaling each group. They spotted Rikku's yellow and white jacket, bright orange scarf, blue bandana, and matching orange ski pants easily, and skied toward where she was standing. Rikku could go absolutely nowhere without her orange scarf and blue bandana that she tied around her forehead. Nor could Yuffie leave her house without her yellow bandana that she also tied around her forehead. Kairi never really followed this apparent trend, though. But she did love Yuffie's classic black coat with white ski pants that contained black, Hawaiian-like flowers all along them.

Kairi's own jacket was also something she loved. Two years ago for Christmas she received it; ditching her old purple and white one that was way too childish for her liking. Hers was now a celery-green coat with white and pink here and there, with light gray snow pants and white helmet. Kairi always wore a helmet. There have been way too many times where she had wiped out and would probably have hurt herself further had it not been for her trusty helmet.

The group that Rikku was with were already there. They were nine in total; five girls and four boys. The two other girls Kairi did not recognize underneath all the snow gear, and she could only identify one of the four boys, although not by name. He was sort of bigger and rotund than the other three, and she thought they might have been in a class a few years back. This was difficult, however, because everyone had their hats and goggles on, especially because it was very cold, so Kairi couldn't tell for sure if the others were actually strangers. Most of them were already talking comfortably, sharing jokes and boys shoving each other boyishly. But Kairi didn't really pay attention to them; she was too determined to be in a bad mood. So naturally, Kairi clustered with her two friends, grumbling and muttering about how much they really didn't want to be there. All was going according to plan (looking and acting angry) until a booming voice came from behind them, and Kairi's stomach dropped in an unpleasantly pleasant way.

"What's up guys, I'm you instructor, Reno."

Holy shit. She knew him. Holy shit, holy shit, holy _shit_. She hastily turned around to take in all the gorgeousness that was Reno Marivali and surely, she was not disappointed. He didn't have his helmet or goggles on, leaving his oddly appealing red hair to blow in the winter chill. His green eyes were more prominent then ever with the white winter backdrop and mandatory neon green coat that all staff had to wear. He was tall and beautiful, with a handsome smirk beset on his fair face. He was the hottest creature on this earth.

Okay. So Kairi has basically had a crush on this guy for about forever. He was about four years older than herself, but I mean, who's counting? They had been in a three day ski group together when she was in the eighth grade, and was put with the eleventh and twelfth graders because of her advanced skill. Unfortunately, Yuffie and Rikku were not in that group with her, for Kairi had come four days earlier than usual, leaving her mother to feel obligated to stick her in a group to pass the time. It was embarrassing at first, being with all upperclassmen. But miraculously, they were nice to her. Like Reno, especially Reno. And it really helped that he was a Senior at her school at the time. Oh, yes.

Of course they never invited her to the parties or get togethers during that winter break. Which was understandable now that she was close to that age. It would have been the same as inviting her little brother Axel to her usual gatherings a year from now. Exactly.

Well, they didn't invite her to any; except for one.

Which if you think about it, it really doesn't count, because the instructor of the time was there, and made the arrangements. Making it mandatory for her to go. But Kairi liked to leave that part out of her gushing memory.

It was the last night after the third day of the lessons, meaning that the next morning, they would not meet again. Kairi had been eager to show signs of courage, to act like the cool upperclassman she wanted to be. So she took extra care that night to straighten her hair to perfection (back when she did straighten her hair; oh, Middle School), and moisturize her lips with cherry Carmex. The night ended up being pretty fun, but she was nervous as hell. The older kids, she suspected, had pre-gamed before this meeting, leaving them a little tipsy and a tad giggly. She suspected this mostly because when they sat around the outdoor fire that was typical in Yukiyama, Reno came and sat next to her. To her pleasant, eighth grade surprise, he put his arm around her frame and asked how she was doing. The feeling in her stomach then was absolutely incomparable. A high school senior hitting on a insignificant eighth grader? It was a drunken miracle! And she was quite sure he was drunk because A) if he weren't, she wasn't sure if he would hit on her, and B) his breath smelled like gin. But hey, who was complaining.

"It's pretty funny that we go to the same high school." he had said. In their school, the Middle and High School shared the same building. Lucky her, right? At the time that's what she thought. Until her brother graduated from sixth grade.

"Yeah I know." was all she could muster. Stupid, stupid Kairi! Why couldn't she think of something more clever, flirty, and high school-like?

"I've always seen you in school, though, you always hang out with that Selphie chick. I don't know why I never said hi." he had said, his crooked grin unleashing its full power upon her. For some reason she could not form a coherent sentence. Did he say that he wished they knew each other at school? Jackpot!

"It's too bad you never did… I would have liked to talk to you." She bit her lip in thought and took a breath, "But I guess that's what this next semester is for, right?" Okay, so this may have sounded really smooth and witty, but Kairi was not about to give herself credit for something she did not make up. Thank god for the segment in 16 Magazine, "What if the hot Senior talked to _you_?" that she had read only an hour before she came here. She would have to write a letter to the editor about her success story thanks to the article, she would be posted in the magazine, and --

"Ha ha. I like you, Kairi. You're not like other girls in your grade." Overload! Overload! And then he bent a little closer, barely inches away, allowing her to get a good whiff of his breath, "And I'll take you up on that offer, yeah?"

Fast forward a couple of weeks of suspense, paranoia, and predictions with Yuffie and Rikku, and you'll find Kairi at the teen New Years Eve party that Yukiyama always hosts for the teenage residents. Of course she knew he was going to be there, and although they had seen each other in passing, this was going to be the day Kairi went up to him and talked to him again. Of course, this was thanks to much goading on Yuffie and Rikku's part, who were so excited they could wet themselves. He was leaning against the snack table, his previous companion walked away just in time for her to approach him. The room was well decorated with faux icicles and white ribbons and frilly stuff. There was a dance floor placed right in front of the immensely large window that looked out toward the mountains and distant slopes.

She had an extremely hard time breathing when she approached him, but once they made eye contact, and he did his beautiful halfway smirk thing, she swore her soul was on a high. "What's up, Kairi? Haven't seen you around the slopes too much; I would have recognized your coat." Ohmygawd!

"Well maybe you've been hanging around the Greens too much. I myself take on the Black Diamonds. But maybe its too advanced for you…" she said, being purposefully dismissive. Clever, Kairi, right?

He laughed at this, took a step closer, and put his hands on her hip seemingly casually. Kairi could practically hear Yuffie and Rikku squealing on the other side of the room, let alone herself. "Quite the opposite, actually. You're the eighth grader, remember?" Okay, so she was hoping he would not mention this little obstacle. He seemed to notice this, "But I kinda do believe it when you say you've been down the blacks." This part is true. She's quite a pro. Although she basically wet herself whenever she went down one at that age.

The place where his hand was was burning like no other. She felt some sort of charge within herself that she had not felt with any other boy, especially when he looked at her like _that_. It was a feeling that made everything slow down, heightened her senses, and made her feel, well, to put it lightly, _good_. The word for it, looking back, was that she felt sexy for the first time in a sense. Or at least turned on. Thank-you puberty.

It wasn't long before he offered her her first drink, and suddenly, everything was gooey and warm, and now the countdown started, and the fireworks went off outside, and everyone was cheering, and his lips on hers were loft and light until they became strong and excited. He was her first French kiss.

The rest of the year was a blur to Kairi. Whenever they crossed paths in school he would give her that heart melting smile, but nothing more, and nothing less. And every time he did she felt a tiny jolt in her heart.

But nothing ever really progressed after that. And she really couldn't blame him. She was a stupid eighth grader after all.

But even with this information, knowing that he was a Junior in college somewhere, her heart quickened and her pulse elevated. She quickly removed her goggles to get a better, non-orange tinted view of him, with the group and Yuffie and Rikku to her back. And once she did, and their eyes met, he did that same crooked grin. So she smiled back.

Now, she didn't want to get too ahead of herself and start picturing future romantic scenarios like she always did, and had done before with him. Because usually this jinxed her chances. And right now, she did not want to jinx her chances. He diverted his gaze after a good long moment of looking at her toward the rest of the group. He introduced the co-councilor Tifa, who made an introduction that Kairi paid no attention to whatsoever; she was too dazzled by Reno's beauty to really look at anything else. Oh my god, those _eyes_!

Dear lord. She really had to learn how to control herself.

She would have to come up with a game plan this time, and not base everything on wishful thinking, luck, and his own will. No. She was not a stupid eighth grader anymore. She was practically a women. And god as her witness, Kairi Hirazora was going to hook up with him one more time before this winter break ended! She could already feel the excitement, the suspense, and most of all the suggestive poking she received from both Yuffie and Rikku on her back. But she could not look back now, not with all this in her future. She would have to text him later -- wait, did she still have his number? -- and speaking of texting…

Just then, Kairi had a thought.

Her phone!

Forgetting all that had just happened, Kairi hastily took off her gloves and reached into her frigid pocket to pull out her cell phone. And behold, she had on text message. For some reason unknown to Kairi, her mind went a little dizzy and an odd, heavy sensation built its way into her stomach. She didn't even have time to tell herself to calm down and say, this is stupid, like she normally would. She had already opened up the text that, Kairi took in a breath, was indeed from Sora, dated to only an hour before. It read:

"_Oh, hey. Listen, I just wrote back to tell you that I was really drunk the other night and I didn't really mean to hook up with you. So yeah. Bye."_

Kairi's stomach dropped, an initial reaction. Her throat felt strained and tight. How foolish and stupid she was! God, she really hated herself sometimes. She unconsciously got her hopes up, just like every other god damned time. Why did she have to do this? Why did she always have to be so stupid? This pattern was getting ridiculously repetitive. She is interested in a guy, they hook up, she gets ignored. God damnit.

And really, what the fuck was _that_?!? What an ass hole!

Anger replaced embarrassment at that moment, firing up her veins and blood and brains and guts and suddenly, Kairi just wanted to scream. Or kick something. Yeah. Kicking would be good. She could see Yuffie look at her. The fluctuation of moods was certainly not healthy.

"You ok?" Yuffie asked, looking at her oddly through her goggles. This anger must have seemed weird, especially after two seconds ago she was ogling at her future lover. So Kairi snapped her goggles back on, turned around, and said, "Yeah, we'll talk about it later."

"Does is have to do with…?"

"No." Okay, perhaps a little bit too snippy. She really shouldn't let this stupid-ass boy get in the way of her future happiness with her friends, future lover…

"Oooh, this should be a good one!" Leave it to Yuffie to get excited over Kairi's anger.

"Okay, so before we all get to know each other, we're going to do a few preliminary rounds down some tricky Blue's and then maybe a few Blacks if we have enough time before lunch. Sound good? Good, so follow me. I trust you guys know what to do." Tifa said, snapping he goggles on and making her way toward the nearest ski lift. In skiing, there were different levels of difficulty: Green being the easiest, Blue being intermediate to hard, Black Diamond being extremely hard, and Double Black Diamond being extremely, are-you-out-of-your-mind? hard. Kairi herself did not find too much enjoyment in Double D's ( that's what she said ), but found that hard Blues and challenging Blacks were her favorite. It all kind of depended on her mood. If she felt like going easier but really fast, she went Blue. If she felt being challenged and ready for exercise, Black was the way to go. She only went on Double Blacks if someone talked her into it, or was somehow forced.

But anyway, back to being pissed off, Kairi sat between Yuffie and Rikku, with some other girl from their group beside Yuffie that she did not recognize. As pissed and keyed up as she was, Kairi couldn't help but wish she were sitting next to Reno on the ski lift. _That's_ what she should do: focus her thoughts on Reno, and Reno alone. She needed to calm down. So she focused on his amazing red hair that was longer and more gorgeous than it had been in high school, and his emerald eyes, and his tall, muscular frame…

But soon they had to get off the lift, and her anger returned. God. Why did this kid have to ruin _everything_. She and her friends skied to where the group was gathered together.

"We'll meet you guys at Longfellow Lift to take us up to some higher blues. Just remember to take a right at the fork and don't get on until we're all there. But its totally cool if you guys get in front of us. Nothing wrong with a little speed." Reno said to the group, his smirk evident behind his gear. For a second she swore he made eye contact with her, and she felt once again that deadly pang inside her chest. Maybe she was reading a little too much into this, but was that a direct challenge? Still fueled by her anger, Kairi was ready to take it on.

So once Tifa and Reno took off, she and the rest of the class was close behind them. Reno and Tifa's neon green jackets were impossible to miss within the large blankets of sugary snow. Kairi sped up; the wind howling in her ears, just the way she liked it. For a second, she was free. _This_ is why she loved skiing so much. _This _is the feeling she felt.

But she had to speed up even more if she wanted to catch him; and damn he was fast. So she decided to take a tiny shortcut that sort of paralleled the main slope through the trees. This was one of her favorite things to do; tiny paths within the trees. This way she didn't have to make the wide turn around this specific group of trees, but treck right through them. She was going to get him. She was going to catch him. She could already see the blissfully surprised look on his face…

Her skis cutting against the snow, she tucked her poles at her sides so that they didn't hit any of the close trees, Kairi finally shot out of the forest like a speeding bullet, noting that she was barely behind Reno. She was nearly there, so close, she was just about to poke Reno with her pole --

_WHAM_!

Suddenly, Kairi was knocked off her skis. Snow was in her face, then in the air again, and then snow once more. Her legs twisted oddly, and she finally landed with a last thud on her side. There was great silence as she lay there. The silence of the snow. After several long, patient moments, Kairi took a large breath and wiggled all parts of her body. Good. Nothing broken. Not that she would have broken anything so easily. It would have had to be a tree of something to break _her_ bones. But nonetheless, it was painful. And it was especially great because when she shook off the initial dizziness of the impact, she realized a large pile of snow was on top of her.

Okay, whichever stranger slammed into her was gonna pay big time. She finally sat upright and tried to wipe the cold wetness from her face, but it was hard. So she took off her goggles and gloves and tried to wipe it away with her neck warmer. Her skis were a few feet uphill, and she groaned when Rikku and Yuffie passed by her laughing. Great. First day and she already wiped out.

"Oh shit, I'm really sorry. It was totally my fault." a guy said from behind her uphill. She sighed and said, "It's okay." He was one of the guys from her class, so she didn't feel like freaking out at him and making any enemies so early in the break. He was walked toward her, also covered in snow, and holding his skis in his hands. They must have been blown off too when he hit her.

"You shot out of that forest pretty fast. Didn't see you coming." he laughed, finally reaching her. "My name's Sora; really sorry about that." he said, taking off his helmet and goggles to shake off the snow, and then reach out to give her his hand. He had brown, spiky, yet shaggy hair. Blue eyes. Bright white teeth. A soft, good looking face.

Just then his expression changed, noticing her removed goggles and unclasped helmet that had just fallen off her head in astonishment.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

-

**review. or the next wont be speedy quick. plus its almost Christmas. present maybe?**


	3. Chapter 3: Awkward

**Meh. I guess this chapter is interesting plot-wise, but im not happy with the writing. Especially toward the beginning. Oh well. Maybe Ill edit it later. I have so much drama at home right now; a lot is changing. And im just trying to cope. So, sorry about that. Just right now, i need to get this up, regardless of the quality. But i promise the quality will be back to normal next chapter. And anyway, this is meant to be a carefree story that i will have fun writing. So im trying not to stress out too much about it. Which was the purpose. So yes. If some of the grammar is awkward, totally my bad. Just try and enjoy :)**

**With all this happy story nonsense, i have a few oneshots lined up that i will hopefully put up soon. And are also of better quality. I just gotta finish them, really. Totally opposite to the mood of this story. Its nice to have contrast. That way, whatever mood I'm in, i can write _something_. So get excited for those. But for now, enjoy, and REVIEW PLEASE. i got less reviews than the first chapter! Lets make it to 10, yes? Ill work hard, i promise. reviews are what i need to bring my brooding mood up, and hopefully get some more stories typed up. so. REVIEW. not to hard. And thanks to the ones who did. :)**

-

[** Of Snow**, _Winter Wonder_, and Relentless Boys ]

-

_Chapter 3_

-

Needless to say, there was an extremely awkward silence.

Skiers continued to rip by them, dodging at the last second around the bend and swearing as they disappeared with only a puff of snow; but the two barely paid attention. Kairi could not for the life of her take her daggering eyes off of Sora's. She could feel the anger envelop the awkwardness and swallow it whole. She could feel it clouding her mind. But not her reaction time. Sora, on the other hand, could not look away due to being chronically dumbstruck. Never in a million years could this happen. This could never happen.

_Then why is this happening?_

Sora did not know Kairi well at all, but by the look of her face he could tell she wasn't pleased to see him.

"I liked your text this morning." her eyes were blazing and, frankly, Sora wasn't able to look away even though he desperately wanted to. He opened his mouth too speak, but nothing came out. Man, he really did it this time.

"_What? _You don't talk now?" Kairi spit. She was on fire. The snow practically melted beneath her feet. She was on a rampage. All would fall in her path if this kid didn't leave her line of vision in three seconds. She watched as he still didn't move, his mouth still half open, unsure of what to say. Pathetic.

"Whatever, dickweed."

With that she turned her back to him and bent down to pick up her poles. It was better to leave it here. It was better to walk away before she really exploded. But then she heard his voice. She was not expecting a response, especially one with this much force behind it.

"Hey, I'm not a dickweed."

Kairi slowly lifted herself up so she could look into his eyes equally burning eyes. His mouth was no longer pathetically hanging either, nor were his eyes confused and calculating. They almost looked kind of mad. For a second, she was struck by this. Never had she been able to compare the word "burning" with eyes as blue as that. It was almost ironic. And he really didn't seem the type to get angry like this too often. Well, he deserves it. The shame that led to his anger, that is. Oh, this boy was going to get it.

"Really now? So you're saying that telling a girl, that you barely know by the way, that she was a regretted mistake through a _text_, _doesn't_ qualify as a dickweed move? Especially when you didn't _at least _text said girl to see if she got home safely after a series of unwise, alcohol-induced events? " She could see him grit his teeth at this.

"You're right, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. But I'm not going to stand here and let you accuse me of being a dick. Because I'm _not_." Kairi was barely aware that they were closer now from confrontation, and that their voices were raised significantly higher. His eyes were even brighter with anger up close.

"Well you're not doing a very good job at giving a great first impression then, are you?"

He sighed heavily and shook his head as if she were completely missing the point. Which she wasn't. At all. _God_. Why did she ever hook up with him in the first place? What a loser. She watched as he turned around and started walking up the hill.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kairi asked with venom. He turned around, his hands outstretched slightly as if he were asking, what? His eyebrows were knitted as if she were the most complicated female in the world. So not true.

"I'm getting your skis for you."

Kairi flushed. "I can get them myself." she snapped as if he were committing a sinister act. She watched as he scooped up her skis and turned back toward her. He ignored her statement, which really irritated her. Like, really irritated her. If there was one thing Kairi hated, it was being ignored. He made his way back to her and put the skis down. He looked at her for a moment with an unreadable expression on his face. She got the impression he was kind of irritated, too. Because of the slope, he towered over her, making it necessary for her to look up in order to see his face. She didn't like this. Although slope or not, she didn't realize how tall he really was.

"Aren't you going to say thank you?" he asked, his tone exasperated and tired. Even sort of sad. This confused her. But she considered his question. Technically, it was a nice thing that he just did. And she really could have done it herself. Yet again she was still mad at him. Clearly. But neither was she a bad enough person to ignore a good deed.

His eyes were big and blue and searching. She realized that this is something she did not notice the other night. But they were too blue. Like, unnatural, blue. Maybe it was the white backdrop. And seeing them angry before just didn't match up. Still, his eyes were serious and unrelenting. They made her uncomfortable. Kairi didn't like feeling uncomfortable.

But then she sighed, reminding herself that she could only be a bitch when the situation was right. But after this, it was back to being Bitch Kairi. Because she was still mad. Douche.

"Thank you." she was surprised that it didn't sound too snippy at all. Which she guessed was good. At least he didn't get the wrong impression. He did a sort of closed-mouthed, polite, one-sided smile before he turned back around. Well, now that that was over, Kairi felt that she had the full right to be a bitch again. Because, like, he _did_ write a dickweed text to her.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Kairi and Sora both turned around to the loud voice behind them. She felt her stomach do a flip when she realized it was Reno making sure they -- she, of course -- was okay. She smiled at him, pulling a full 180 on the mood-o-meter.

"Yeah, we just sort of crashed. Sorry." Now Kairi knew fully well that there was absolutely no need to apologize. However, this was Reno. And Kairi wanted to not be Bitch Kairi when, around Reno, she should definitely be Nice Kairi. He took a quick glance at the boy behind her and then looked back at her. She watched as he smiled at her.

"Okay, well just suit up and come down. We're waiting for you." he said looking straight at Kairi and completely ignoring Sora. (Score!) With one last smile and a whip of his ponytail, Reno was gone. Satisfied, Kairi turned back around, put her helmet, goggles, skies, and poled back on and got ready to launch. But when she looked up, Sora was gone. Confused, she looked downhill to see him making the turn around bend of trees, out of sight. She wrinkled her nose at this, but then skied down to join the rest of the group.

-

Lunch came around after a few runs on the slopes, and Kairi was none too pleased.

Yuffie and Rikku kept poking her suggestively, and then realized that she was pissed off, launched into an interminable probing of why she was so pissed off. "Later, I promise." Kairi kept whispering to them. But Kairi should have known that this would not quiet their curiosity. They were Rikku and Yuffie, after all.

So Kairi sat there eating her gooey lasagna as her two friends continued to poke her on both sides. But Kairi decided that making a show of this would not help her chances with Reno whatsoever. So for one of the few times in her life, Kairi stayed resigned. But otherwise it was nice to see the faces of her classmates, all puffy and red from the chill, instead of the backs of their coats and the reflections of their goggles. She realized she was right when she guessed that she recognized that the one, more rotund, kid was once in her group a long time ago. Although for the life of her she could not remember his name. The two other boys, other than said boy and Sora, looked only slightly familiar.

One boy had what looked like jelled up blond hair and a confident smile. She wasn't 100 percent sure if it was gel; it could easily be that it naturally sticks up like that. Like, look at Sora. His wasn't gelled, yet it was odd and messy in its own way. With displeasure, Kairi then remembered she knew this because she spent half the night with her hands in it. Kairi almost shuddered. She felt embarrassed just thinking about it. Anyway, the kid also had camo pants and a black and tan coat. He was constantly pulling jokes with the boy she recognized, and one of the other girls.

The other boy had spiky blond hair and was quiet. He was in a conversation with Sora, so Kairi guessed they came together or something. Which gave her an automatic prejudice against him. True, it was sort of harsh and absolutely unprecedented. But she was human, right? Like, she was sure he was a nice kid, but she was not about to approach him eagerly to be friends. No way. Although she did give him major credit for his sick pair of checkered snow pants and white coat.

The two other girls she didn't really recognize at all. One of them, who seemed to be friends with two of the boys, had odd brown hair and deep green eyes. Not as bizarre as Rikku's, but definitely green. She had an orange coat and tan snow pants with Hawaiian flowers. Yuffie was a little bitter about this, claiming that she copied her style. The other girl was blonde and wore absolutely all white. She didn't really talk to any one, which Kairi sort of felt guilty about. She recognized her as the girl who first rode up the ski lift with herself and Rikku and Yuffie.

So ignoring Yuffie and Rikku, Kairi tried to make eye contact with the blond girl who sat across from her. It was a challenge, to say the least. It was as if she looked everywhere but Kairi. God, this was exhausting. Did she notice she's been staring at her for a full minute in an attempt to be friendly? If so, maybe that's why she wasn't looking at her. Cool. She thought she was a freak. But finally she did meet Kairi's eyes, so Kairi smiled.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around here. What's you're name?" The girl looked slightly confused to why Kairi was speaking to her, but smiled back slightly.

"Oh, yeah. This is my first winter here. I'm Naminé." she answered, looking between Kairi and her two friends, who were now paying attention to the girl, much to Kairi's relief. For a second, Kairi lifted her eyes as if someone was staring at her. She looked down the table to see Reno meet her eyes, gave an approving smile, and then went back to his conversation with Tifa. Sometimes, Kairi thought smiling, it paid off to be Nice Kairi. But then she met eyes with Sora, who was also looking at her with another one of his unreadable expressions. He looked away first, and Kairi wondered if he saw her act of kindness toward Naminé like Reno did. Stalker.

With excitement of meeting a new friend, Yuffie nearly shrieked, "No way! Where did you ski before then? You're really good. I bet the place you were at before wasn't as cool as here though. Like, this place is the best place in the world. What kind of skis do you have? They look mega sick." Naminé looked overwhelmed with both the amount of questions asked and the vigor behind them. Kairi couldn't blame her. It took a while to get used to Yuffie.

"Umm…" but Naminé wasn't able to finish her thought, to her relief, because Tifa made an announcement.

"Now that we can see everyone's faces, we're gonna get acquainted. So, just go down the line, say you're name, and…you're favorite ice cream flavor or something?" Reno shook his head at this with laughter. Tifa shoved him playfully and then nodded her head toward Reno after she re-declared her name and said her favorite ice-cream was plumb. This slightly grosses Kairi out, but didn't think about it too much because Reno was about to speak.

"Again, Reno, and probably prune." At this, Reno burst out laughing as if he shared an inside joke with Tifa, who currently hit him on the shoulder with a red face. Kairi was curious to what exactly happened to spur this inside joke, and Kairi, much to her surprise, felt jealous toward Tifa. This was weird. She watched as they continued to laugh until Reno nodded his head at the blonde boy.

"Roxas; sea-salt." Kairi couldn't help but note that he really did look like a Roxas. It was a weird quirk that she had. Whenever she was introduced to someone, she always tried to fit together the name with the person. If she felt that it didn't match, she would try to think of a different one. It was odd really, and she had never admitted this to anyone.

Sora was next. Kairi's lip twitched with a slight grimace, "Sora. Blueberry." This was an odd flavor, one that Kairi had never personally tasted. But she was sure it was bad. Because Sora liked it. So that meant it sucked.

"Naminé; mango." Kairi realized she really liked her name. She also loved mango. It was her second favorite. Yuffie was next, who was on the other side of the table with Kairi.

"Yuffie, and rainbow sorbet!" Kairi laughed. She remembered when Yuffie first told her this when they were twelve. She didn't even know it existed then. Kairi realized it was her turn, and felt inexplicably nervous.

"Kairi, and definitely lemon." God, Kairi felt like she was in a lame summer camp with all these awkward icebreakers.

"Rikku, with two K's, mind you, and lemon also." Kairi smiled at this. Rikku and herself tended to be very similar is a lot of things. It was one of the reasons they were such good friends.

"Pence, and I don't know. They're all pretty good." So that was his name…it rang a bell now. She would have to mention this to him sometime soon.

"Hayner; sea-salt." Kairi watched as the boy names Roxas made eye contact with him shortly, and then looked away. There was always some sort of automatic bond when you find out that someone else has the same favorite ice cream. It's magnetic, practically. Neither said anything else after that.

"Olette; and either vanilla or chocolate…or both." Kairi also really liked her name.

"Ok, cool. So, um, after this we're gonna do just a few more runs and then you're out by 1:00. That's the rule. So lets do Bull's Run first, and then we'll decide what to do from there. And be careful and keep up; it's a Black."

"Yup, lets go kiddos." Reno said standing up. Kairi was sort of irritated by this. By no means was she a "kiddo". They all suited up, Kairi pointedly trying to ignore Sora completely while this process was taking place. She felt that this pattern would be repeated in the future. Kairi got a rush of both sadness and irritation once this thought crossed her mind. She would never admit it, but Kairi really was sort of hurt by his text. I mean, what girl wants to be referred to as a mistake? Especially when, in a way, Kairi had put her trust in him? It was sort of an implied rule of hooking up. Like, if Kairi hadn't of seen something she liked in Sora, if she hadn't of trusted him to some degree, she wouldn't have hooked up with him. She was particular like that. Putting yourself out there like that takes a lot of guts. And to be shot down…its embarrassing. Even if it was only between the two of them.

Rikku furrowed her eyebrows, "You okay, Kai?" Kairi nodded her head without looking at her. She hated looking vulnerable, but right then, it was almost suffocating how lonely she felt. Maybe it was hormones or something, but Kairi really didn't like feeling this way. Kairi looked up and realized that Sora was only a few feet away. She really hoped he didn't hear Rikku, or look at her face. He was the last person who needed know that she was effected by all that happened today. But she couldn't be sure at all. So Kairi quickly lifted her pink neck warmer over her mouth, strapped on her goggles and helmet, and made her way outside with her two best friends at her side; hopeful that the joy of winter skiing would help her shake off this mood.

-

After more runs down the slopes, Kairi was just about ready to collapse.

"Dear…god…am I tired." Yuffie gasped between breaths as they finally reached the meeting place and promptly fell to the snow in exhaustion. Soon, Rikku and Yuffie joined her with both their tongues hanging out dramatically for show. Kairi laughed at this and then sat down next to them with her skis still in tact. It was a rather odd feeling when you knew you were somehow sweating and tired yet still frigid from the outside temperature. It was enough to confuse the body greatly. And confusion meant tiredness. And tiredness meant sleep. Which is what Kairi really wanted. A nap. Especially after this crazy day.

She felt a weight drop down beside her and looked over to see an orange coat; Olette, she remembered her name to be. Kairi watched as she removed her brown hat and goggles to reveal her pink cheeks and runny nose. "Man, am I tired. That last run was killer. I swear moggles are the death of me."

Kairi laughed at this. "Yeah. It's by far the least fun part of the whole institution of skiing. And they're all over the Blacks. I mean, who invented them? And _why_?" Olette laughed at her rave. Kairi watched the pleasant contrast between her eyes and the white of the snow.

"Definitely." Olette agreed. Just then Kairi sensed a shadow cast over her as she looked up to a pair of baggy army pant and thick ski boots. The low sun cast an odd light effect around the silhouette of the boy.

"You just can't handle them, Olette. Only the pros know how it's done." the boy sniffed, poking the brunet girl in the forehead. Kairi, after a few moments of thought, remembered that his name was Hayner.

"I can beat you in a race and you know it." Olette giggled. Hayner rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Yeah. Downhill. And that's just because you're skinnier. It's physics--"

"Or talent"

"Whatever. But on jumps and flags? No competition. End of story." Kairi could tell he was very passionate when it came to competition. Olette seemed to know this too, because she played it cool and calm.

Then Olette frowned, "But you end up hurting yourself when you do that." Hayner shrugged his shoulders and then directed his attention to her.

"What about you, carrot top? Are you fast?" Hayner asked, smirking as he squatted down to their eye level. Kairi frowned deeply at this.

"Faster than you." she said as smoothly and casual as possible. Now, Kairi would have thought of a better comeback had she not been too tired. Or at least that's what she told herself, anyway. Hayner raised his eyebrows at this and then smiled as he leaned further on his heels, still squatting, as if to get a better look at Kairi.

"I love a challenge. Or…lack there of."

"Whatever. You're on." Kairi noticed Olette roll her eyes playfully. Pence came up behind Hayner eating what looked like a taco. Where he got a taco, exactly, stumped Kairi completely.

"You're…Pence, right?" Kairi asked nicely, smiling up at the boy. He nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we've have a ski class before together. I remember you're face." It took a second for Pence to think this over, taco in hand. His facial expression held an epiphany-like quality when he realized what she was talking about.

"Oh, yeah! Kairi. I knew that I knew you from somewhere. I couldn't figure it out, though. You had short hair then. I knew you weren't from here." Pence said smiling. Kairi smiled back, realizing that he must be a local or something. Interesting. This is turning out better than she had originally planned. Locals equals connections.

"Oh. These are my friends Rikku and Yuffie. We've been coming here together for years." Kairi added, nodded toward her friends' direction. They only nodded tiredly.

"I need a nap…" Rikku muttered.

"We can go back to my place and chill for a while." Kairi offered decidedly. Rikku and Yuffie nodded their heads enthusiastically at this idea. It was a known fact that Kairi had the nicest TV on the mountain. Her father really liked technology. So she used this to her advantage. And despite her questionable first impressions, Kairi's mother was an amazing cook. All this was just one big equation for a perfect chill house.

"Okay, break it up everyone. Stretch when you get home. Get limber. And we'll meet again tomorrow at the same time. And be ready." Tifa called the the large group of tired teenagers. They all looked in her direction and then sighed warily. Hayner was the first to speak.

"Well, we'll catch up with you guys tomorrow. See ya'" he said as he motioned for Olette and Pence to follow him toward the town center. Kairi looked toward her two friends and asked if they were ready to go. On response, they all stood up and made their way toward the lift that led them to her house. But just as they put on their skis and started to waddle away, Kairi heard a voice that made them all halt.

"Hey, Kairi, wait up!"

Her heart just seriously skipped a beat.

Her cheeks flushed and a new smile gracing her face, Kairi turned toward Reno as her friends waddled away just out of earshot to wait for her. Kairi glanced at Tifa for a moment and noticed that, as she was talking to an over-eager parent, she looked their way aswell, as though curious. But then Reno blocked her view and she was perfectly okay with this.

"I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you today. Sorry about that; counselor rules. No favoring students." He smiled at his own comment, and Kairi literally felt her head go slightly fuzzy as if it were an unfocused TV. He wanted to talk to her? He wanted to favor her? This day had seriously improved.

"No it's cool. I won't tell anyone. Scout's honor." she flirted back. She would have taken an inconspicuously flirty step toward him but there were long wooden sticks attached to her feet at the moment.

He laughed, "So how is everything? Highschool suck?"

"Yeah, it kind of does. I'd rather be here."

"That's how I felt exactly." They had something monumental in common?! Oh-em-gee!

Kairi glanced behind him, "So is Tifa a college friend or something?" Kairi noticed the immediate change in his face. His smile slightly dropped, his eyes unfocused as if he were contemplating whether or not to decide on something.

"Oh, yeah. She's actually my girlfriend."

And just like that, Kairi's day started to suck again.

"Oh," she was able to gasp out in a hopefully incognito surprised voice, "that's-- that's great. For how long." Kairi was pretty sure she felt a fragment of her heart tangle its way into her intestines.

"About a month." he said, nodding slowly and several more times that necessary. An awkward pause started the second his last nod ended.

"So, yeah, I've got to head home. Rikku starts to talk delirously when she's hungry, so I better get to that." Escape was probably the best option at this point.

"Oh, right. Bye."

"Ok, thank you." Kairi paused for a moment. _Thank you_? How was that even applicable? Reno looked at her with an indescribable face. Probably debating whether she was mentally competent.

"You're welcome." he said only a second after. They both looked at each other with an odd expression, signaling the awkwardness level to Red Alert. For a moment she thought he was going to say something else, but then she had the thought that maybe he was thinking the same thing. Her face was seriously burning right now.

"Right. Bye." Kairi said, shifting her weight awkwardly so that she could move. But he misread this as some sort of approach, and then reached forward to give her about the most awkward hug in the world. Especially since once his arms lightly went around her poofy coat, Kairi responded with great vicarity and acted as if this was actually what she meant to do all along. She gave him an odd tight squeeze and then quickly released. He looked equally as uncomfortable as she did. Kairi decided it was time to make the initiative of escape. So once he saw he move, he turned around as well and walked back toward Tifa. His girlfriend.

"What the hell was that?" Rikku asked looking over Kairi's shoulder. But she couldn't respond.

"Yeah, that looked…um…awkward." Yuffie added as they took their position in front of the lift and waited until it came up behind them and lifted them up on the seat.

"Awkward doesn't describe it. More like painful." Kairi said, gazing unfocusedly as she tried to wrap her head around the full awkwardness of the situation. Fuck. She was so pathetic.

"Painfully awkward." Rikku mused. She then laughed lightly, "well, what did he say?"

-

The rest of the ride and beginning of the walk up to Kairi's house consisted of an intense disection of Reno's words, tone, and facial expressions throughout the conversation. But once they made it all the way through, there was only one logical conclusion: it was perhaps the most awkward conversation ever recorded.

Kairi felt like an absolute idiot. Not to mention Sora and his friend Roxas were just up ahead walking in the same direction. Kairi tried really hard to walk slowly and make Yuffie and Rikku follow suit so that they were not in earshot, but it really was a challenge; Rikku and Yuffie were two of the fastest walkers in the world. And this new-found gossip was only fueling it. Her luck sometimes astounded her.

"Wow." was all Yuffie could say, "What are you going to do when you see him again tomorrow?" Kairi whimpered at this.

"I havent even though of _that_ yet." Unfortunately, they were gaining ground on Sora and Roxas. Crap. Crap. Crap.

"I can't believe that he has a girlfriend, Kairi. Especially when he was flirting so heavily with you. You think he's going to go after you again like a few years ago?" Yuffie pondered aimlessly. Fuck. Crap. Fuck-ity-crap. This was right about the time that Yuffie needed to shut up. This was the exact conversation that she did not need Sora to hear. And judging by the distance between their two groups, he probably did.

"Yeah. I bet he will. Hopefully it won't be so sloppy this time." Rikku said. Oh my god. This was not happening. But then again, her pattern of luck should have indicated that something like this would have happened eventually.

"Oh, look! My row. Great. Let's move." Kairi cried a little on the desperate side. She pulled them with her arms and jetted forward. But then noticed something. Roxas and Sora also turned. Yuffie cocked her head at this.

"Hey," she called, trying to signal them. They turned toward them. Kairi felt Sora's glance on her for only a second. She made sure not to meet it, "Do you guys live here, too?"

"Yeah, our house it right there." Sora responded and then turned to point at a house just a few down. It was large, wooden, and designed to look chic yet cabin-esque. Whatever that meant. All the houses around here were designed to look like this. It attracted tourists, apparently. But then again Sora lived there, so Kairi was sure it was some sort of incognito dump of a house. Even though Kairi knew this was not true and also borderline mean, it was still sort of satisfying to fantasize about. So Kairi decided to ignore the fact that it was nice looking, spacious, large, and -- the house right next to Kairi's.

-

**dun-dun-dun. REVIEW. i always write back.  
read above.  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Love to Hate

**Life is even more hectic than before. And that's saying something. But I really don't want to give this story up. So here it is. Enjoy. Review. Or the wait will be long.**

[** Of Snow**, _Winter Wonder_, and Relentless Boys ]

_Chapter Two_

"Wow."

That was all Yuffie and Rikku really said during Kairi's recount of her recent dramatic occurrences. Not that she expected much else. Still, it would have been nice to receive some sort of feedback instead of incessant laughing.

"Man, that is messed up!" Rikku sighed after a long fit of giggles. Yuffie still wasn't done laughing, so Kairi ignored her.

"I know. And I have no idea what to do about it. I mean, to think, he is right next door to me!" Kairi shook her head at this idea and fell back on the couch with a stressful sigh. There was officially no way of avoiding him now. Not only will she be seeing him everyday for several weeks - for several hours at a time - but he lives right next door and she can basically look through his bedroom window. Not that she knew which was his bedroom window. And not that she intended to look through it at all.

Still, this was proving to be a sticky situation.

"I wish I had more advice for you, Kairi. But not going to lie, this situation is truly one of a kind."

"Cool, thanks, Rikku."

"What about Reno? What are you going to do about him?" she asked. Oh god. A whole nother problem within itself. What _was_ she going to do about him? Well, not much considering he's dating Tifa, bad-ass girlfriend extraordinaire. She should have guessed as much. The chances of him being interested in her in the first place were remarkably low as it is. It was just her inflated ego that told her different before she found out they were dating. It tends to do things like that. Just because they hooked up X amount of years ago, did she really expect he wanted to do it again? He was in college, after all. Why linger on the young high school when he could probably move onto cooler, older, more mature girls? Like other college girls. Like Tifa.

Rikku continued, "It really is a bummer. Kinda seems like everything is against you right now, Kai. I mean, not to be sadistic or anything. Just realistic." she veered, noticing the glare in her direction. Yuffie meanwhile had stopped laughing and was now grinning goofily.

"Yeah, and not to mention you have your stalker-boy living in the same house as you for three or some weeks." Yuffie added.

"And that this may be or may not be our last winter all together." Rikku pointed out.

"And if you even touch Reno, Tifa will probably kick your ass."

"And you're house might be burnt down by the end of the season if your brother doesn't quit with the matches."

"And it looks like youre skin is about to break out."

"Wait, really?" Kairi screeched, immediately throwing her fingers to her face to feel around for any tricky blemishes.

"No, not really." Yuffie said, "But that would be the least of your problems."

"You guys really know how to show support." Kairi mused sinking her head forward again so that her sticky and sweaty hair covered her face. She fiddled with the tips of her fingers nervously. Rikku and Yuffie, who were both sitting on the carpeted floor in front of her, looked at each other.

"I mean, at least it makes this all more interesting." Rikku tried.

"And memorable." Yuffie chimed. But to be honest, none of this was really helping. The more Kairi thought about it, the more all the issues seemed to add up. As if an internal list just kept going on and on and on within the confines of her head. Her head was seriously starting to hurt. And she wasn't sure it was altitute sickness.

"I wonder what that kid Sora thinks about all this." Rikku pondered outloud, now standing up for go make herself some popcorn in the kitchen.

"He probably thinks im a stalker, is what he thinks." said Kairi bluntly.

"He's pretty hot though." Yuffie thought out loud. Leave it to Yuffie to let her hormones get in the way of obvious logic.

"Yeah, props to you for tapping that shit." Rikku agreed from the kitchen, the sound of popcorn kernals pouring into the bowl as she spoke.

"Oh, god, guys, he's an asshole." Kairi countered, "I can't believe I even hooked up with him in the first place. Then I wouldn't be in any of this mess."

"Regardless, I bet you would have hooked up with him anyway." Rikku said. Kairi raised her eyebrows and cautiously asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. If you hadn't of hooked up with him at the party, the attraction you obviously felt would have spilled over into this trip. I mean, he's your neighbor, he's in our ski class. There would have been about 1,000 chances. Or, will be, I guess if you put it chronologically."

"There will _not_ be any more chances because I will _not_ be hooking up with him again. Regardless of the geographical location of where he sleeps at night."

"Wow, chill. I'm just speaking hypothetically." Rikku defended, leaning against the granite counter of Kairi's kitchen. There was a moment of uneasy silence as this possibility settled. No way would she hook up with him, right? Surely Kairi have felt some sort of intuitive message from Future-Kairi if she were in the situation of hooking up with Sora. Right?

"Yeah, whatever."

But no matter the analysis that curtailed these comments, Kairi really had no answer to any of her amounting problems. So after Rikku and Yuffie left, Kairi sat in her room, stared at the ceiling, and listened to her iPod. Figetting against the softness of her bed, she finally pulled out her phone and looked at the blank screne. After a while of hesitation, she pulled up the text between herself and Sora. The text procured a sickening lurch within her stomach. God, why did she always have to embarrass herself? If she hadn't have sent that text, maybe things wouldn't be so hostile. Awkward, maybe, but not hostile. But really, what did she expect? She was Kairi. And Kairi always messed up in one way or another. It was like it was programmed in her genetic code.

Fuck.

She just couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Just then she heard an odd muffled noise, and, realizing that her eyes had been closed, opened them to see her mother standing over her bed. Kairi pulled the earplugs out and asked what she wanted.

"Just reminding you that we're going out to dinner tonight."

"Okay."

"And that you need to watch your attitude tonight when it comes to Ventus and your brother."

"Will do."

"And…that I love you."

"Okay." Her mom frowned at this.

"I met our neighbors today."

"That's great."

"Yeah. They have a son about your age, and a nephew the same age as well. Lovely kids."

"Cool."

"I invited them to dinner tomorrow."

"HUH?"

* * *

The next day Kairi woke up with a sick feeling in her stomach. And it wasn't from the excessive amount of chocolate she anxiously vacuumed the night before.

Wishing that she had at least ten more minutes of blissful sleep, Kairi pushed her quilt off and sighed deeply. She really couldn't believe that these boys were putting her in such a damper mood. Like, it was HER vacation, right? Who the hell did they think they were? This sudden spark of self-confidense fleeted quickly as blend of Sora's and Reno's face diffused into her mind. The feeling vanished as quickly as it came, especially when she pictured what dinner that night was going to look like. Damnit. Why did they have such an effect on her?

Kairi stumbled around the room collecting her ski clothes and descended the spiral stairs as she fumbled into her ski pants. Not even bothering with makeup, she ate her cereal and promptly met Yuffie at the door. Kairi gave her a hesitant look as she opened it. Being the good friend she was, Yuffie notified her ginger friend that Roxas and Sora had already left, and were therefore not in danger of an awkward passing. Pleased that this was the first good news of the day, the two carried their skiis down to the lift and made their way to the meeting spot.

Kairi was overwhelmed with the incessant butterflies that vivaciously bounced within the wall of her stomach as they skied closer to the spot. They could already see the group assembled talking amonst themselves. Kairi felt it necessary to keep her reflector goggles on at all times.

The beginning was pretty run-of-the-mill; Tifa instructed which warm up runs they were going to do, Kairi ignored Sora and Reno, and everyone complained about runs and whatnot. Still, Kairi couldn't help but feel a certain uneasiness within the confines of her stomach. Plus, the nervous glances from Reno's direction were incredibly dstracting in the worst way possible.

The beginning of the day passed by remarkably uneventful. Still, the tension was apparent between the twisted love triangle. At least from Kairi's perspective, because, interestingly enough, the two subjects didn't even know about each other. Not that it was a huge deal or anything. However Kairi still found it unsettling as she watched Sora and Reno in a conversation that consisted of bro punches and exaggerated story telling. How blind they both were to the small, yet awkward connection they had.

Before they first walked into the cafeteria lodge, snow was barely falling. Just minimal flurries. By the time they gathered their stuff and wrapped up conversation, however, the weather had progressed into heavy snowfall, making visibility limited. It felt like coming out of a movie theatre to discover darkness, when only a few hours ago is was daylight. And Kairi wasn't a fan of rapid change like that.

They all gathered outside the lodge, bundled up and unrecognizable, when Reno turned around and spoke loudly over the wind, "Okay, we're going to head down Deer Run, take a first left, and then get on the lift there up to Pike Peek. Visibility sucks, but we're still going to do it. Try not to spread out too much."

They skied down in silence, with only the sound of passing snow and the cut of the their ski blades against the powder. The wind was blowing harder now, and it was difficult to hear. Kairi skidded to a stop in front of the lift, barely making out that Yuffie and Rikku were stopped right in front of her in line. Kairi looked over her shoulder for a second, which proved more difficult that she had thought, what with her massive helmet and the many layers of clothing that prevented most forms of motion. But by the time she turned back around, Yuffie and Rikku had already moved ahead and were about to be lifted by the seat. It occurred Kairi that the lift was only for two people. She was next. So, noticing another skiier in her peripheral vision to her left, started to move toward the lift. It was only until she was hurtled forward by the frigid piece of metal that she realized who exactly was sitting next to her.

Kairi broke into a cold sweat. Of course this would happen. And knowing her friends, Kairi was able to gather that this was not pure coincidense, especially as she watched Rikku and Yuffie shaking from laughed in the distance.

To make matters worse, the wind was started to slow in direct proportion to the improving visibility. Less sound meant more awkwardness. Less sound meant no buffer between she and the brunette boy.

To say the least, the lift ride was excruciating. Kairi was painfully aware of any move she made. After shifting her weight once, the result being an unsettling creak arisen from the frosted contraption, she refrained from any further movement. She was as frozen as the snow below. And it was extremely uncomfortable.

The tension of silence was more than obvious between the two. Certainly, he felt it too. It was like a painful electric current.

In reality, the ride only took a couple of minutes, at most. Yet it truelly felt like twenty. When the end of the lift approached, Kairi let out a noticeable breathe. Once off the lift, she skied as far away from Sora as possible. Red in the face and ears from by far the most painful experience of her life, Kairi spotted Yuffie and Rikku and hurtled toward them. They only saw her speeding toward them a second before she made contact, and soon, they were all face down in the snow.

"Hey! What was that for?" Yuffie screeched, lifting her snow-packed helmet from the pile of snow, at the same moment that Rikku whacked Kairi with her gloved hand.

"You guys know what that was for! I don't think I've ever been through that kind of torture in my life!" Kairi retorted, now trying to mirror the other girl's efforts in sitting upward.

"Yeah okay, but you didn't have to knock us off our feet…" Rikku mumbled, finally standing up.

Backing her up, Yuffie mimicked, "Yeah!"

"The pain you felt was nothing compared to what I just went though."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It was just good fun. Plus, we kind of hoped you'd exchange at least a few words…" Rikku said, paused, then, "_Did_ you?"

Kairi glared through her goggles, "Not one." Yuffie started laughing, so Kairi dropped it.

The class ended a little while later, and soon the whole group found themselves huddled in a circle. Hayner was in the middle talking loudly.

"Yo, Pence, lets have a firepit party at my house tonight." As always Hayner was way too animated about whatever he was talking about. Pence looked skeptical.

"I don't know…"

"Aw, come on. It always time for party time! My parents leave today. It's perfect."

Olette shifted her helmet from underneath her arm, "Aren't your parents leaving _tomorrow_? That's why we're having the group family dinner tonight, remember?" Kairi almost forgot that they were locals, and hence their families knew each other. The three of them seemed like best friends. At least from this point of view.

Hayner's animated expression noticeably dropped, "Oh. Right." After a beat of silence, "Well, we'll do it tomorrow! What do you guys think? A little ski group bonding, show you the ropes of this place, show the ladies a good time…" Kairi raised an eyebrow as Hayner's suggestive smile. Pence rolled her eyes and Olette looked away.

"Overkill, mate."

"Thanks, Pence." Hayner gruffed, and then shook it off, "But really, lets do it. With a little booze, you can never lose."

It occurred to Kairi, as the group all agreed with an undertone of excitement, that perhaps they should offer booze money. But then it also occurred to her that Hayner was probably rich, considering he had a house here, skied here year around, and other obvious points of reference. As they broke off, Kairi, Yuffie, and Rikku decided to hang around their favorite hot chocolate café, Coffee Mania. After putting away their skies in the community racks and awkwardly trudging across the plaza toward the café, they sat down in their favorite booth.

"So, can we just talk about how hot Roxas is?" Rikku suddenly brought up. Yuffie and Kairi looked up from their mugs with odd expressions. Rikku stared back, obviously confused.

"Oh, come on guys. Don't tell me your not prejudice enough to notice it: he's gorgeous."

"Eh, I'm not into blondes." Yuffie shrugged and went back to sipping her hot chocolate. Rikku turned to Kairi. She had to be careful how she dealt with this. Roxas was Sora's cousin, so yes, she _did_ have a prejudice, but she didn't want to cock block Rikku either.

"Yeah me neither. But yeah I actually agree." she said, and then fearing it wasn't enough to satiate Rikku's excitement, "Um, his eyes are cool."

Rikku lit up, "Oh my god I _know_! They're just so _blue_." Kairi had a flashback of a pair of similar blue eyes, darker in the dim room, inching closer to her, and then close softly just as her did. Kairi shuddered.

"That is a plus." Yuffie agreed. "Oh, do you guys want to hang out in my house tonight and watch a movie or something? My mom said it was okay." Rikku nodded her head energetically. Kairi groaned.

"I can't. I have a dinner tonight."

"Why is that so bad?" Rikku asked.

"Because our favorite retard will be there."

* * *

_DING DONG_.

Kairi's heart leapt in her throat. She shut her eyes tightly, willing this all to be a dream. But sure enough, as she opened her eyes, there she was, in a nice black dress that her mother forced her to wear and the smell of meatloaf tugging at her nose. Oh sweet jesus. This was going to be quite a night.

Her mother insisted that they all be by the door as she welcomed them into their home. Kairi could feel Axel scratch uncomfortable in his little boy suit. Her mother found it adorable. Axel explicitly detailed how exactly he was going to dispose of it when he was done. Kairi agreed with him for the first time since birth.

The door swung open and there was Sora and Roxas' family. Roxas's parents were both blonde and slightly rotund with age, yet obviously very good looking people. They almost looked like siblings, except for his mother's green eyes, and his father's blue eyes. It was a little overwhelming to look at, actually. Way too many goodlooking people in one family. That was when Kairi noticed something, or someone, behind his mother's leg. It was a tiny girl, a little younger than Axel and Ventus, and very odd eyes. She didn't at first realize it, but the girl's eyes were actually two colors.

"Welcome! You can put your coats up right here. I have wine and snacks in the living room." her mother welcomed. A flurry of standard compliments and small talk about the short walk over and the décor of the room followed. As the parents walked away, Kairi allowed herself to look at the distracted Sora. It pained her, but Kairi would have to say that he looked very good. He wore a black, pin-striped button down dress shirt and dark, expensive looking jeans. Why couldn't he just look like a tramp?

While Kairi was busy staring at Sora, she almost didn't hear the voice, "Hey Kairi. What's up." Kairi blinked. It was Roxas. She had totally forgotten about him. Poor kid. She felt a waft of guilt at her past prejudice toward him. He really was very nice, especially since he probably knew about the present situation.

"Oh, hey Roxas. Nothing really. This is my brother Axel and our cousin Ventus. I see you have a sister?" I said as nicely as I could. I could feel Sora's now undivided gaze on me.

"Yeah, this is Yuna. And you know my cousin, Sora." Kairi didn't really understand why he was reintroducing Sora to her. Yet, she felt abloaged to glance, and sure enough, he was looking at her too. Their eyes met and Kairi felt immediately uncomfortable and fidgety.

"Right." Kairi said, all that she could muster.

"Do you like rocket ships?" Axel nearly exclaimed, as if he thought the young girl wouldn't hear him. She noticeably jumped and just stared at him, not knowing how to react. Kairi flicked him in the ear.

Axel was getting impatient, "Well, do ya?" We were all looking at her now, and she must have felt it because her eyes got really big. After a moment she just shrugged her shoulders. It occurred to Kairi that maybe she wasn't as young as she thought she was.

Axel shrugged as well, "Eh, good enough for me. Come on Ven, lets show her the goods."

A moment passed as the three teens stood in the foyer. God, how she wished Rikku or Yuffie were here. She decided to pull some hospitable bullshit as an escape.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" she offered, starting to turn around.

"Yeah." they both said at the same time. The sound of Sora's voice unsettled her. She hadn't heard it really since their confrontation a few days back. Which wasn't that long if you thought about it. But, regardless. I had a nice, slight deep tone to it. Kairi inwardly slapped herself. She lead them into the kitchen and pointed to the display of sodas and drinks on the counter.

"You can have what you want. Skip the wine though, not sure my mom would be cool with it."

Roxas laughed, "Yeah, I figured that." Kairi saw the appeal that Rikku explained. She decided she liked him. She smiled back.

As they were fixing drinks, Sora apparently decided that it was his turn to talk, and so asked, "So, uh, are you and your friends going to Hayner's tomorrow?" His voice came out way too controlled. Kairi had a hard time averting her eyes from a bug on the floor.

"Um, yeah. We're planning on going. Havent told the parents yet, though."

"Yeah, us either," Roxas said, "do you know where it is?"

Kairi leaned back on counter, "Yeah, I do. It's in walking distance."

"Cool, maybe we could walk as a group. Sora and I would probably get lost if we gave it a shot on our own." Kairi was confused. Why would he suggest to walk together if he knew about she and Sora's little situation? What was he trying to do? Did Sora possibly suggest is earlier? Judging by his visable sudden tenseness, Kairi didn't think so. Still, her head buzzed with questions.

Realizing that she had to give an answer, and quick, she decided to do the humane thing, "Um yeah, sure. Yuffie and I can walk with you guys. No big deal."

Roxas smiled, "Sweet."

They headed into the living room where the parents were conversing in the way that parents do. They asked her what colleges she was looking at. She replied. Her parents pulled the same questions, so Sora and Roxas replied. That was about the extend of their conversational input.

The next half hour continued like this. It was hopelessly boring.

Kairi mom, after disappearing to check on the food, announced that dinner was read. The parents commented on how hungry they were and how good it smelled, and they all sat down for dinner. Now the thing with her mom and cooking was that she was not all that good. However, when it came to guests, she always, always, cooked meatloaf. It was about the only thing she could do without some sort of out-of-place taste. And this was because it came from her mom, who was for the most part normal, and could cook a wicked meatloaf. Hence, when there were visitors, meatloaf it was. Although she was quite good with finger foods, which was something her friends loved.

Her mom was also really into candles. Part of the whole meditation thing, so her mom was stocked with them. Her dad only spoke when asked a question about either business or sports. The rest he just mumbled and nodded. It was about dessert time, and just as Kairi was spacing out, her mom told her to go fetch the pie, which, shhh, was bought.

She smiled pleasantly and headed for the kitchen. What she wasn't expecting was to see Sora just leaving the bathroom at the exact moment Kairi walked into the kitchen. They both jolted to a stop.

How excruciating this was! They couldn't seem to look away from each other, no matter how much Kairi wished they would. It was almost like a game; who-would-look-away-first. What a twisted game.

Finally, Sora broke, "Hey."

Kairi responded with a "Hello" before she remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him. However, the awkwardness wouldn't allow it. So she just continued to stare dumbly. _Why do I suck so much?_

"Um, you're mom's meatloaf was awesome." Kairi stared. God, was the only topic relatively acceptable to approach only her mother's meatloaf?

"Oh, yeah, its her specialty." There was silence after this in which Kairi looked away. But once she looked back a moment later, Sora looked like he wanted to say something.

"So do you hate me or something?"

Kairi was struck by these words. His expression had an honest curiousness that made her heart thump. She suddenly felt guilty for a reason she couldn't really put her finger on, yet she couldn't look away from him. He was a very direct person. Or so Kairi was finding out. Still, she wasn't sure how to answer his question. Because, no, she didn't hate him. Not really.

"I-" she started, but was then cut off.

"Because it sucks being ignored by someone who has the wrong impression of you." Kairi swallowed. Why wasn't she flaring up? Why wasn't she getting red in the face like usual? Where the hell has her defense gone? It was eroded. Eroded so easily by his honest words. Kairi had the feeling that maybe she _had_ been too hard on him. Part of her mind was yelling at her to stop being such a softy; that he was the one who hurt her. But she couldn't ignore the thought that maybe she had gotten him wrong.

Kairi inwardly shook her head. Now she was getting hopeful. And if Kairi knew anything, it was that hope dies. Quickly. Hope leads to disappointment. It was a common fact.

He was waiting for a response. Kairi took in a breathe. He deserved an honest reply.

"I don't hate you. I'm just…embarrassed. I guess." Kairi bit her lip. Sora nodded like he knew exactly what she meant. Or tried to, anyway.

"Yeah. I did sort of humiliate you. Sorry, I really didn't mean to." Kairi tried to mimic the way he nodded at her. "So, uh, can we have a truce or something?" He looked sort of embarrassed by this proposition.

"Sure." Kairi said, and then after an afterthought, "But this doesn't mean we're friends." She couldn't let him off _that_ easy.

His eyebrows rose slightly and then nodded fervently, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He then smiled uncomfortably and stuck out his hand. The handshake wasn't much of a handshake. Once she put her hand in his, he didn't grip it or make any shaking motion whatsoever. They just sort of hung there, gentle and timid. Kairi had a flash of his eyes coming toward her again. It shook her up inside enough to release her hand from his electric one, smile quickly, and then follow Sora back into the dining room after grabbing the dessert, the doors swinging back and forth as they passed through, her hand tingling.

* * *

Kairi learned a few things that night.

Sora, she decided, wasn't half bad. He seemed to take this truce seriously, because instead of the tense awkwardness that was present before, there was an amount of conversation that had never existed. He acted like nothing happened. Not their fight. Not their hookup. It was something Kairi was sure she would never be able to do. And this resilience slightly annoyed her.

He still made her uncomfortable. A lot. And 7 out of 10 times she found herself grumbling about him in her head. Like, he was _still_ the kid who humiliated her. Truce or not. She was more civil now though.

She also learned that he and Roxas were cousins, and that Sora was traveling with Roxas and his family for the winter because his were at the beach. The little sister was extremely cute, and the parents were very helpful.

For some twisted reason, Kairi found it extremely annoying how good and thorough their family was. It made it hard to validify her reasons for hating him in the first place. Fuck, she was complicated. Not exactly new news, but of well.

So Kairi called up her two best friends and filled them in on the dinner. When she finally lay herself down to sleep, she thought of Sora and his stupid spiky hair, and his stupid blue eyes, and his stupid smile, and how she loved to hate him. She thought of the feel of his hand on hers. Kairi groaned as realization dawned.

Kairi Hirazora had a sick, twisted crush on Sora Hikari; whether she liked it or not.

**review. or die. :)**


	5. Chapter 5: It Takes a Hotub and Snuggie

**SWEET _JESUS_ did this take me 32904798355 years to finish! i cant even believe i worked on this chapter for so long. its long as fuck. but hopefully its worth it. REVIEW!**

[** Of Snow**, _Winter Wonder_, and Relentless Boys ]

_Chapter Five  
_

Kairi woke up to the sound of nasally breathe.

At first, Kairi thought it was an odd twist to her dream in which she was riding a rhinoceros in the Kentucky Derby instead of an actual horse, so she turned to face the other direction. The noise, however, did not relent, and with each passing second she realized more and more that it was not part of her lucid dream after all. In fact, it was her pimply cousin Ventus lying next to her in bed.

The first thing she did was scream and kick him off. This left a trail of drool from the pillow down to the carpet floor. The second thing she did was wonder how exactly he squeezed himself into her twin bed and why exactly he did so. The third thing she did was try forget the grotesque image of his chap-sticked lips and greasy face barely two inches from her own like a persistently bad drawing underneath a lion eraser. Ventus, of course, scampered out of her loft, threw one last wild glance her way, and then flew down the stair case as if he were a Jedi master. Sound effects and all.

Kairi, still dazed from the absurd occurrence that just took place in her bed, rushed into her bathroom to scrub off her Ventus germs in a steaming shower. This did not prove to be successful because when she closed her eyes, she could still smell his bad breathe and acne cleanser blowing into her face. Why wasn't there some sort of manual in dealing with creepy, incestuous family members? They wrote books about love and all that shit, but what about her repugnant cousin Ventus? Kairi shuddered.

Kairi quickly swallowed her breakfast and was about to run out the door when the mirror stopped her. She groaned. She looked like she just rolled out of bed. Maybe if she just…

No! Don't do it! It's not like she had anyone to impress anyway. Who cared what Reno thought? What Sora thought? Don't be weak! Don't be weak! Don't be-

Five minutes later Kairi had casual eyeliner, mascara, and pewter pink blush. Immediately as she slammed the door behind her, she hated herself for caring at all. She hated herself even more when Yuffie asked what age group she was applying for in the Pretty Princess Beauty Pageant.

"Jesus, Kairi, I know you called and told us about you and Sora's reconciliation last night, but this is a little excessive don't you think?" Yuffie was blatantly making fun of her now. Kairi growled under her breathe to shut the fuck up and get her skis.

"Testy, are we? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"More like woke up with the wrong person on the bed."

Yuffie blinked, paused, and then exclaimed, "HOLY SHIT KAIRI, YOU AND SORA HAD SEXY TIME LAST NIGHT?"

Kairi pounced at her. They fell to the snow with her hand over Yuffie's mouth. Yuffie was skill screaming despite the muffle so Kairi slapped her across the face.

"NO, you idiot! I woke up to Ventus drooling all over me this morning!" Kairi shook her head and stood up, "My _god_ can you scream." Yuffie looked noticeably relieved and fell back into the snow.

"Man, that was a close one. I _really_ thought you guys had-"

"Hey guys, what's up?" Came a voice. The two girls visibly jumped from the sudden interruption. They both whipped they heads in the direction of the voice, eyes wide, and sure enough it was Roxas and Sora.

Yuffie's mouth was wide open and could not stop stumbling with, "Uh…uh..guhh, uhh…" Deciding to save the awkward situation, Kairi smiled largely.

"Oh, you know, making snow angels. Or something." Kairi's smiled tightened as Sora and Roxas, clad in the their ski gear and eyebrows raised, looked at each other. Okay, so they knew she was blatantly lying, but so what? It wasn't their business that they were just talking about she and Sora having sex last night…

"Anyway, lets go." Kairi said urgently, pulling Yuffie off the ground so hard and fast that her feet left the ground.

* * *

Ski class was weird.

And it wasn't because Yuffie spilled to the whole class about her incestuous cousin, nor was it because Reno seemed to be staring at her even more frequently then before. No, it was because she and Sora were actually talking. It was the strangest thing. It started like this:

"So snow angels, huh?"

"That's right."

"That's a bunch of shit."

"Eat it up, spiky!"

More was said but she couldn't really remember the whole dialogue; she was too excited to actually talk to him to activate that part of her brain that is her memory. Sometimes, it took all sectors of her brain to be as witty as she was. Smart Kairi equals Funny Kairi.

It wasn't until lunch that the real shocker came into play. It was Hayner, the pathological partier.

"So I heard the New Years party this year will be out of control." he said, his head lowered with a sly smile on his face. He knew everyone was paying attention, so he hammed it up, "That guy who made the song "Witchcraft", B.u.B. will be there with Shusher." Half the class's jaws dropped; Hayner was enjoying this, "And there will be a secret guest…but I cant say anything."

"No way tell me!" Yuffie screeched with Rikku not far behind. The rest of the class seconded her notion.

"Nope. I can't say."

Pence rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, he doesn't actually know."

Hayner's eye twitched at his chubby friend, "God…_damnit_, Pence!" Pence just brushed it off, "Okay fine, I don't really know the special guest. But I swear the first two are true." Kairi rose her eyebrows.

"WAIT!" Rikku shot her hands up in a stopping motion and froze, always the fashionista, she continued, "that means we need to buy new dresses!" Kairi and Yuffie looked at each other. It was true. Every year before the big New Years party, the three of them went into the town of Mozukai to buy brand new outfits. It was a tradition; one that Rikku took very seriously. The boys rolled their eyes.

"Yeah. Lets do it today." Kairi agreed, and then looked around the table, "Girls only, sorry, twits. Naminé and Olette, you guys in?" The two girls looked at her as if she had handed them free tickets to Disney Town.

"Yeah, totally!"

"Okay!"

The girls made plans to meet at Kairi's an hour after ski classes ended. And that was that. Kairi would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn't excited. Although perhaps not the most estrogen driven girl on the planet, Kairi could not pass off a good shopping trip, especially with her two best friends. Hayner made sure to remind them that that night was a party at his house. He also told them to buy some fun clothes for it. Like Santa lingerie. Olette also smacked him across the face.

It was a nice change seeing Naminé and Olette outside their ski jackets. They were both a little on the quiet side, which was a stark contrast with the trio's loud persona. It was nice though, getting to know new people. Winter had always been a time only focusing on her best friends and never looking too far beyond it. This year it seemed she had met substantially more than all her years combined.

They were all already in Kairi SUV when Yuffie decided to crank the volume to its maximum level. Rikku and Yuffie were already making a show of dancing around in the car and Kairi smiled at the normality of this. But then she looked in the rearview mirror to see Olette and Naminé huddled as far away from Rikku as possible. Normal for her, but obviously not normal for them.

Kairi turned down the volume. Rikku flicked Kairi's ear from behind, "Heyyyy, why did you turn it down?"

Ignoring this, Kairi looked at Naminé through the rearview mirror, "So Naminé, where are you from?" The girl visibly jumped at the mention of her name, and for a moment it seemed that she did not understand the question at all. She looked over at Rikku and Olette cautiously and then made eye contact with Kairi through the mirror.

"I'm from Twilight Town." Kairi wrinkled her nose.

"Hey, isn't that where Roxas is from?" The whole car eased into silence, and it became very clear, very quickly, that Naminé was blushing scarlet red. Ah, so Kairi was right. She remembered him mentioning it the night before. What strange coincidences these all were. Sora, Reno, and herself from the same group of islands? Naminé and Roxas from the same town?

"Uhhh…yes." Naminé answered, clearly uncomfortable. It was Yuffie who broke the silence first.

"Okay, SPILL!" Yuffie practically climbed to the back of the car with excitement. Her frantic face was inches from the blonde's, and it didn't take a body language expert to compute Naminé's discomfort. Yuffie loved a good story. Or a good scandal. It depends how you look at it.

"I don't know what you mean." Naminé tried, but Yuffie was not having it. Olette was even looking at her interestingly. Rikku, it seemed, was very skeptical.

Yuffie was loving this, "What, do you like him or something?"

Kairi started to feel very badly for Namine; she was squirming.

"Um, we dated once."

Yuffie was shaking so hard from excitement, she was vibrating. "NO WAY. When?" She inched even closer to Naminé's pinched face.

"Like, last year."

"Did you know he was coming here? Or did you stalk your way up here?"

Naminé glanced sideways out the window, "Our families are friends." she glanced back, "I've known him forever. We started dating here last year."

Olette turned to Naminé, "Wow, what happened?"

"We just broke up, I guess."

"That must really suck seeing him here, then. I would go crazy, I think." Olette sympathized. Yuffie's electric stare now switched to Olette. If Kairi were able to see Yuffie's face, she would say that it was halfway between devious and enthralled. It was the devious half that worried her the most. Kairi wondered whether she should stop her before things got disastrous. Yuffie was probably perspiring from excitement.

"What about you, do you have a boy?"

Olette visibly stiffened. Yuffie had caught her off guard, "Oh, um, no I do not."

"Why not?"

"I don't know." Olette was getting a little annoyed.

"You and Hayner seem a little comfy-"

"Oh, look! We're here! Great, lets go!" Kairi interjected, jammed the brakes, and scooted everyone out of the car. She grabbed Yuffie's arm before she got out. The rest of the doors closed.

"Ow, Kairi! What?"

"You know what, Yuffie. Give them a break."

Yuffie pinched her face, "Awww…Kairi, you know I'm just excited."

"Yeah, I know, but they don't. Lets just learn each other's last names before we interrogate them about their past heartbreaks, okay?"

Yuffie pulled away from Kairi's arm and made a face. "Fine, fine, fine. Be boring."

"Yup, that's me." They both laughed and climbed out of the car.

* * *

Kairi wasn't exactly sure how or why, but suddenly they found themselves in a lingerie shop.

Naminé was looking a little green. Kairi bit her lip and whispered harshly into Yuffie and Rikku's ears, "Guys, I think our new friends may collapse." The three of them simultaneously looked back at Naminé and Olette. Next to the queasy blonde, Olette looked like she painted tomatoes on her face.

Yuffie and Rikku looked at each other, "Nah."

The room was a bright fuchsia with intricate designs on the walls, while the ceiling was painted black with some racy models coated the walls. The speakers blared what sounded like sex sounds and electric beats. There were five large pits of just thongs and bras toward the back, and kinky clothes and toys in between. The shop attendants were caked in makeup and did not look like they were retaining much heat in their clothing. It was a pre-teen boy's wet dream manifested in front of them.

Plus, the store's catchphrase claimed this was a "high-end" sex shop. Whatever that meant.

So they lied, said they were all eighteen, and waltzed right in. Rikku grabbed the two girls, "C'mon, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just a little overwhelming." Olette answered honestly, looked from side to side, and then whispered back, "Do you think we will get in trouble for this?"

"Nonsense! There is nothing wrong with expressing our throbbing sexuality!" Rikku exclaimed, brandishing her arms to-and-fro. It went without saying that Rikku liked boys and was known for having excessive hormones. Kairi was not sure if there was any point in time in which Rikku was not "throbbing" for some guy. While Yuffie found them funny, some of the stories Rikku told them throughout the course of the year downright scared Kairi. Her crushes never lasted too long, though. Nonetheless, Rikku oozed sex.

"Yeah, come on, this is just for fun! How often do you get to walk into a sex shop with a group of friends?" Yuffie offered. Rikku was about to contradict but Kairi gave her a look.

"Yeah, don't worry. It will be fun." Kairi tried to offer.

Yuffie nearly shrieked, "I know! Each of us _has_ to buy at least one set of underwear!"

"Yeah! And we have to wear it tonight!" Rikku added. They were grinning largely now. This was turning out to be very interesting. Kairi joined in the grins.

"I don't know…" Naminé mumbled, biting her lip and poking a dildo that hung on a wall. Olette eyed the toy that Naminé just touched. It came in five flavors.

"Okay, okay! New rule! If you don't buy anything, you have to skinny dip in Hayner's bathtub tonight." Yuffie was way too excited. Rikku mumbled something along the lines of doing it willingly.

"This is some sort of peer pressure, I know it." Kairi said.

"Yeah, and I'm going to choose what everyone's going to buy!"

Olette laughed, "Not fair! We should choose our own."

Kairi had a better idea, "Nah, lets just get partners."

Yuffie exploded, "Naminé! You are _mine_!" She abruptly grabbed Naminé's arm and proceeded to drag away the hesitant blonde into the piles of hot pink. Rikku grabbed Olette before a word could be passed between them.

"Hey! What about me?" Kairi exclaimed. Rikku halted, giving Olette whip lash, and gave Kairi an evil look.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch Eugenia, you're for last. You have to look good for Sora-poo." Olette looked at Rikku as she said this.

"No way, you and Sora are a thing?" Olette asked, wide-eyed. Kairi willed herself not to blush.

"No! I-"

Rikku interrupted with a finger jammed to Olette's lips; she stared at the finger that was now brushing her nose uncomfortable, "Hush, Olette. All will be revealed in due time. For now, the Kinky Gods are calling!" Rikku sped off into the back of the store, leaving Kairi alone.

Great, she thought. Now everyone will know. Not that she really expected it to stay a secret for a long period of time, knowing her friends, but some secrecy would have been nice. Kairi sighed. She might as well enjoy the day. This was the kind of material that she would remember for the rest of her life. Poor Olette and Naminé, though. Everything had gone smoothly as they were dress shopping. They had gotten some sweet deals and killer outfits, and they were all getting along very well. Rikku and Yuffie had behaved themselves, and were instead just very excited to dress up the other two. But once Rikku spotted "Lindy's Lickable Lolly-Pop" from across the street, all good hopes were lost.

And now, here they were, in a sex shop. Typical, really.

A store attendant asked if Kairi needed any help. Perhaps a new bra? Or maybe a vibrator? How about the Bible to Blowjobs, its half price? No, thank you, I'm good.

Kairi decided to search for her friends. What Kairi found moderately surprised her: instead of fights, or at the very least uncomfortable moments, they were all laughing. Even Naminé. _I guess there was something about sex shops that just bonded girls together.

* * *

_

An hour later, the five of them walked out of the shop gasping for breathe.

"Naminé, I cannot _believe_, you just bought that!" Rikku screeched with laughter. Naminé smiled largely, looking more relaxed then they had ever seen her. Her hair was untidy and mussed, and her eyes were lit up in a twinkling luster.

"Well, I mean, it was either that or streak."

"Amen!" Yuffie prayed. Kairi looked at her watch and then back up. It was already 5:00 and starting to get dark. The sun was already behind the impossibly colossal mountains that loomed over them, and the air was slowly moving away from chilly to positively biting. Condensation appeared after every breath. She would have liked to appreciate the idly falling snow and pretty lights, but Kairi was almost sure her ass had frost bite.

"Okay, gang, let's bounce."

The five of them skipped down the icy sidewalk, giggling as they went, ready for the night that lay ahead.

* * *

Kairi felt oddly confident. And although she didn't want to admit it, it was most likely the underwear.

Her lingerie set was all silky silver and fully encrusted with tiny fake crystals. The result was glittery rainbows at every catch of the light. It was a major push-up bra that made her boobs practically bubble. The panties were surprisingly comfortable, and the matching garter belt was not so bad (although she was _not_ going to wear it that night). In fact, if Kairi were a third party observer with no personal interest in the situation, she would say she looked pretty damn hot. That is, underneath her clothes. Which were _not_ coming off. Period. Otherwise, she looked pretty normal. Maybe a little busty. Kairi grudgingly thought that you should not read a book by its cover; just strip the pages out and see what kinky things are inside. Kairi almost slapped herself.

Yuffie arrived at her house ten minutes before they were supposed to walk to Hayner's with Sora and Roxas, and she looked equally as exuberant, admitting that her little secret panties made the whole thing even more exciting. With bathing suits tucked in their jacket pockets, the girls called goodnight to Kairi's meditating mother, and shot out the door. The night was dark and full of clouds, leaving no relief of the moonlight. It was flurrying lightly and the wind was a little strong, but the temperature surprisingly wasn't too unmanageable.

The girls turned their heads at the sound of crunching snow to their right and watched the two boys appear out of the darkness. Kairi could not help but feel her heart skip when the brunette met eyes with her. It must have been the underwear, but Sora's beanie made him look extremely delectable.

Sweet Jesus. Delectable? What has become of her?

"Hey, guys!" Yuffie greeted with a muffle from under her scarf.

"Hey. You guys know how to get there?" Sora asked, looking from Yuffie to Kairi. She felt another jolt.

"Yeah, lets go."

So they trudged through the cold wind and snow, and after about a half hour walk downhill, they finally made it. To say the least, the house was dazzling. It was of modern architecture with many angles and light toned woods. The entrance was completely of glass that stretched up to the second floor. Classic white lights neatly lined the roof and bushes. The four of them were speechless; the house was massive. Softly, they could hear music beating from the inside.

"Well, uh, I guess we knock?" Roxas offered. Wrong. There was a massive door bell button that was the size of a hand. The resulting ring rose above the music. They watched as Hayner jogged toward the massive door and hauled it open.

Hayner was grinning ear-to-ear, "Welcome, broskis; coats on the wall, booze is in the back." Rather stunned, the four of them walked in together; that was how wide the door was, and turned to hang up their jackets.

"WOAH! It changed!" Kairi cried. Hayner impatiently waved her off.

"It changes from night to day," he started in a tone that made it obvious this was not the first time he'd explained this, and pointed to the glass wall that was now a giant silver mirror, "during the day that's what you see from the outside, at night that's what you see from the inside."

"Tubular…" Yuffie mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. Hang your shit up and follow me."

They did as they were told and followed him toward the connecting pool house. Everything about the house was clean, polished, and light. They passed a Christmas tree that was easily twice the size of her own, and very extravagant yet clean decorations lined every room; real berry-filled wreathes that curled in formations Kairi didn't know were possible, enlarged glass ornaments hanging from the walls, silver ribbons that tied around every lamp, and intricately decorated candles on every surface. An enormous smooth stone fireplace crackled in the corner. Soon they reached the outdoor hot tub that was coated with steam. It had an attached pool bar covered in bottles, and a large, burning fire pit adjacent as well.

"Nice house." Yuffie squeaked.

"Yeah thanks, now go take your clothes off and jump in the hot tub." Pence, Rikku, Namine, and Olette were all on the couch in the pool house.

"Hey, guys! Sweet digs, right?" Rikku called from across the room, waving the four of them over. Kairi and Yuffie walked over to the girls, shared a communal look, and all burst out laughing. They were all wearing the lingerie as planned. Kairi was loving this.

"What are you girls laughing so loudly about?" Pence asked, putting down the PS3 controller to give them an odd look. The other boys were only half listening as they were admiring the collection of alcohol in front of them.

"Don't worry about it too much, Pence. It's a girl thing." Olette answered, barely able to suppress her giggles. This earned her a kick in the leg by Rikku who shushed her loudly in between giggles. Pence only stared, and then looked back at the other boys.

"Hey guys, the girls have some sort of dirty secret they want to tell you about." He said, picking up the controller once more. Olette gave him an annoyed look. And although quiet, Pence's words were able to always catch Hayner's attention, it seemed. Or maybe it was Hayner's born snoopiness.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked, getting more interested by the second as the girls continued to laugh, "Did you guys order strippers?"

Kairi rolled her eyes, "Fuck no."

Pence glanced at the girls, and then back to the screen. He was winning by 10,000 points, whatever the game was, "No. They are the strippers."

Kairi blinked stupidly. He was so close to the truth it was scary. Olette huffed, "Pence! Shut up!" She then turned to the other girls and mumbled, "Pence has this weird distinct talent of reading minds."

Hayner had frozen in mid thought. A sly smile pulled on his lips, "Okay girls, take it off, take it all off, lets see what's underneath." This grabbed the attention of Sora and Roxas, were in middle of pouring a drink.

"Who's taking what off?" Sora asked.

"The girls. They have a secret under their cleverly conservative clothing." Hayner nodded. The excitement that these boys were radiating was enough to make Kairi gag.

"Okay. Bathing suits, now." Kairi said, "Olette lead the way to the bathroom."

"Ay-Ay!"

They burst into laughter as they entered the bathroom. "Did you see their faces? What fucking twelve year olds." Rikku laughed.

Kairi laughed with them, "Man, I want to get in that hot tub."

"Yeah, 'cause you wanna snuggle up with Sora." Yuffie fired back, wiggling her eyebrows. Kairi almost tripped as she tried to take off her pants.

Olette laughed, "Yeah come on, now you gotta tell me about this Sora thing." Kairi quickly looked for an escape.

"Oh, um, gotta pee!"

Bullet dodged. Good one, Fast Kairi.

Bathing suits on and shivering uncontrollably, the girls all jumped into the hot tub with a relieved sigh. The thing was so huge that they could all fit with wiggle room in between. They chatted for some minutes until Kairi glanced at the who boys were all in the hot tub, but making drinks.

"You guys are too slow. Hurry up and enjoy our company." Kairi called over the rumble of the bubbling water. Hayner raised his eyebrows at her.

"Is that an _invitation_, Kairi?"

Kairi made a "bitch, please" face and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right-"

But he was too quick, he had already made his way over to her and put his arm around her, "You know, I'm not generally into red heads, but for you, my dear Kairi, I can make an exception." Kairi's eyes defied her and glanced over at Sora, who was looking directly at Hayner's hand that was now squeezing Kairi face, the other out of view.

"Ew, sick, Hayner. You're such a creep." Olette rolled her eyes. Seeing his next, and most favored pray, Hayner made his way over to Olette.

"Jealous?"

"Yes. Seething."

"You know, I like it when you're feisty, Olette."

"I bite too."

"What do you want to drink?"

"Vodka and coke."

"Okay."

What a strange friendship they had, Kairi thought. It seemed that the other girls were thinking the same thing. Kairi was about to make a comment when she felt someone sit next to her. Kairi felt her stomach make a giant lurch when she realized it was Sora, and he was holding a second drink for her.

Kairi blinked, "Oh, uh, thanks. What is it?" Kairi suddenly felt quite shy and could not think of a thing to mock his chivalry. It was like she couldn't even look him in the eyes, and instead took her drink while only looking at his hands. This stupid little crush was getting troublesome to squash.

"Whiskey sour. Johnny Walker, too."

Johnny Walker? Kairi felt dizzy from Hayner's omnipresent wealth. Or at least, that's why she thought she was dizzy. Maybe it was the hot water. Or Sora. Or the hot Sora.

"Oh, thanks." she took a sip and watched the others settle down with drinks themselves. Something occurred to Kairi. Whiskey sour was her favorite drink. There is no way Sora just pulled that one out of a hat.

"Wait, how did you know I like whiskey sour?" Kairi braved herself and looked into Sora's eyes. She watched as he smiled and met her eyes, "Probably because that's what you told me seven times at that party." Kairi went red.

Hayner, ever the eavesdropper, jumped on this, "Woah, woah, you two were at a party together? Why wasn't I invited?" Kairi frantically looked over at Rikku and Yuffie who were grinning. A slight pause ensued. Kairi busied herself by watching the silver steam spiral into the sky.

She felt Sora make a sideways glance at her, and then back at Hayner, "Oh, it was back in Destiny Islands." Kairi was bracing herself.

Olette, finally understanding, said, "Ohhh, so you guys go to the same school or something?"

"No, I live on a different island than she does."

"But you were both at a party?" Hayner asked, suspicious. Was it really that obvious what was going on here? Kairi thought she was being pretty discrete about all this. Was her face really _that_ red? Kairi looked over at her two best friends and she realized that all hopes were lost; Yuffie was about to blow.

"YEAH AND THEY HOOKED UP, TOO."

Okay, the moogle was out of the bag. Kairi sunk as low as she could in the water. Sora felt stiff beside her. She swore she was about to die. Everyone laughed except Roxas, who was beside Sora. Kairi watched, as everyone continued to laugh and give Yuffie high fives, as Roxas leaned toward Sora and said, "Bro, you never told me."

She blinked. Kairi could hardly believe her ears. Sora hadn't told Roxas? Roxas hadn't known all along? Kairi had been wrong? For some reason, Kairi felt her heart swell in the slightest. She remembered Sora claim he wasn't a dickweed. And not telling his own cousin, which any other guy Kairi has ever known would have done, definitely qualifies as a non-dickweed move. Here she thought they were comparing and discussing her behind her back. But she wasn't even close. She hadn't even scratched the surface in figuring this boy out.

And before she could stop herself, Kairi asked, "Wait, you didn't tell your cousin?" Sora was a little flustered and confused by this, and instead busied himself with a sip of his drink.

Roxas answered for him, "Yeah, I'm not surprised. He, like, never tells me anything."

"What a valiant man, this Sora is!" Rikku called, holding up her glass, "Here! Here!"

"Rikku, shut up." Kairi said bluntly.

"So, Sora," Hayner started, giving the look she was already getting used to, "How was she?"

Sora, who decided that humor was no the only way to approach this, laughed, "Well, she meowed a lot."

Kairi was going to blow.

"WHAT? No I didn't!" Kairi stood up in outrage and stared down at the brunette who was now howling with laughter with the others. Feeling the wind chill on her wet body, Kairi immediately plunged back in the water. But everyone was still laughing.

"Hey! I meowed before we hooked up, remember? On the couch where you looked like you were drugged?" Sora laughed at this.

"I do believe you meowed later, too." he grinned a dazzling grin and nudged her playfully. It was almost enough to make Kairi melt and crack a smile. Almost.

"You are lying."

"I would never lie to you."

Kairi rolled her eyes. And so did her stomach. Kairi was starting to loathe this stupid crush of hers.

About an hour later, after consecutive drinking and many wise-ass jokes on "Kitty Kairi's" behalf, they were all around the fire pit. Now, it may seem like a dilemma to have a bunch of wet teenagers out in the freezing cold, despite the hot fire, but Hayner, ever the prepared one, conveniently and inexplicably had Snuggies for everyone. Everyone except Kairi.

"What do you mean you only have eight Snuggies?" Kairi cried with a drunken slur, shivering uncontrollably in the wind as everyone wrapped themselves in warm goodness.

"Probably because that is all we got for Christmas last year from my grandparents." Hayner retorted as he wrapped himself in his camo Snuggie. Kairi was now shivering so hard that it hurt, but her two best friends were way too drunk to really notice. They were both double teaming Roxas at the moment, it seemed. Namine looked red.

"What…happened to…chivalry? Why…me?"

"Because gingers do not have souls, and therefore do not deserve Snuggies."

"Bull…shit-t-t! You guys look…stupid…anyways!"

Pence stood up in horror, "No way! I look like a Jedi warrior!"

"There is only one way in settling this." Hayner said, putting his finger up and grabbing the attention of the others, "Someone must volunteer to share their Snuggie with Kairi. And I, the undisputed leader, volunteer Sora for the job."

"Wh-what?" Kairi cried. It took Sora a second to react because of the alcohol. The group drunkenly cheered, "And why…is that?"

"For two reasons, Gingie: because of your obvious sexual tension that has been vibrating all through the hot tub, and…because he's the one with the extra-large Snuggie."

If Kairi's face were able to flush, it would have, "No…way!"

Sora, looking a little too pleased, rolled his eyes and opened his blue Snuggie, "Come on Kairi, don't be stupid. You're blue." Kairi took a second to analyze the situation. Either run into the house alone frozen, or share Sora's oozing body warmth and _not_ freeze. Kairi's headstrong pride was not in function at the moment, so she skipped her ass into Sora's Snuggie.

Kairi swore she had never felt anything so warm in her life. The relief was immediate. The Snuggie had an oven effect that mingled with Sora's body heat. And when Sora drunkenly grabbed her legs so that he was almost cradling her, Kairi forgot all cold and only shivered to his warmth. His arms were around her, his hands friction to her skin, and Kairi would never admit this to herself, but this was secretly what she had wanted this whole time; his arms around her again. She had a flashback of his scent and it flooded her nostrils like the air itself. Her whole body was electricity, and she was sure he could feel it too.

Kairi neither heard nor cared what the conversation was about around them. She didn't even try and pay attention. The world was spinning and the voices were mumbling and she just felt so warm that she clutched him as tight as she could because she knew it wouldn't last forever. She wasn't sure how long they were like that, but it was both excruciating and blissful at the same time. The whole time is was like both were waiting for the other to make some sort of move in a direction that had been walked before. It was like an electric waiting game and it kept her entertained for what seemed like hours.

When she felt his finger run a line down her bare spine, Kairi decided it was time to pee. The gallant fellow he was, he walked with her still in the Snuggie, as if in a walking embrace. They tip-toed into the house and Kairi let herself free from his arms and ran to get her jacket. Well, ran is a kind word to use, because she was actually stumbling violently. But she ran, nonetheless.

He followed her and just as she finished putting on her jacket, he had her pushed up against the wall. He was no longer wearing the Snuggie, and was instead bare chested and breathing hard. His lips grazed her ear and his breathe was hot and wet on her shoulder. Kairi once against shuddered. He stepped closer. They stood like that for what seemed like minutes, his hands softly running down her side.

"This whole pretending to hate me act is becoming more and more transparent as we go." his voice was rough and it sliced through her. Her knees were incredibly wobbly and her vision was not straight, so she closed her eyes.

"I do hate you…" she drunkenly whispered back.

He made a small laugh in her ear, "It doesn't seem that way." Just as he said this his fingers were at the very small of her back tracing the material of her bikini bottom and she was way over her head and she couldn't take it anymore.

A cool breeze of some sort entered her lungs and Kairi snapped out of it. She made her way out of the bronze boy's arms and headed for the living room. She stopped and looked back. She could see herself in the reflection of the silvery window and she looked wild and happy and drunk. She locked eyes with Sora and she swore she had never met anyone who could pierce her the way his eyes could. They were spectacularly blue, and the intense look he gave her was something she wanted to catch in a bottle and keep in her pocket forever.

But tonight was not the night. Whatever sliver of pride that Mr. Walker had left her was now sharp as a tack. She had to play with him a little.

"I am going to sleep." she said slowly, smiling in the most tantalizing way she could, "Tuck me in?"

Maybe she was crazy for passing up a chance like that. But the time would come. For now, she just needed some sleep and maybe a sandwich.

* * *

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